7th March 2020.
Our Green & Grounds Team turned out for another of our mass tree planting days. This happens once or twice a year at fairly short notice when we receive 420 whips, or small saplings, free of charge from the Woodland Trust.
Our association with the Woodland Trust goes back to 2015 when we first
applied for an offer of a free tree pack. At that time we were planting near to the
Aqueduct, read more on that here. Since then we have received over 2000 tree saplings
of various species from the Woodland Trust. LHCRT has also purchased many trees and plants, and others have donated too in support of our aim to improve the environment for wildlife, the community, and to increase bio-diversity.
Several youngsters working
towards their Duke of Edinburgh Award helped us 'recycled teenagers'. We were planting a mixture of hawthorn,
blackthorn, and hazel, which makes good hedging, as well as rowan, silver birch and a
few oak trees. In 2 or 3 years we will should have a good hedge alongside the
canal channel at Falkland Road.
In the afternoon we were visited by Michael Fabricant MP for Lichfield and a patron of LHCRT, who helped to plant one of the saplings donated by the Woodland Trust and also put up a plaque to acknowledge the support we have received from the Woodland Trust. Six of these plaques were made by the 7th Lichfield Scout Group and will be fitted at our various sites where we have planted the saplings.
Michael Fabricant MP, who was recently appointed Chairman of the All-party Parliamentary Group for Waterways, said: “The Fosseway Nature Reserve and Wetlands demonstrate the varied use of canals. They are used not only by boaters, but also by people taking exercise or a stroll along the towpath and by the wildlife living in and alongside the canal.
“I was proud to help on the day by planting one of the saplings and screw on a Woodland Trust plaque made by the 7th Lichfield Scouts.
“The Lichfield and Hatherton Canals will open up access to the canal system in the Black Country and will provide an economic boost to the area when it is completed.”
