Silverlight Version
We are very thankful to the Woodland Trust who sponsored our creating a new woodland here at St Lawrence. They came to see in the early summer of 2009 and recommended us for their sposorship scheme MOREWOODS. We were short listed and, in September 2009, were told that we would be sponsored to plant 1250 trees over two hectares, along with the provision of mulch mats, canes and spirals. We were overjoyed - and then came the ''BUT''! The Woodland Trust would not be helping to plant the trees this year because they wanted to use the funds to provide more trees to people. We could understand this, but then worried ''How do we plant 1250 bare root trees which have to go into the ground within a couple of days so that they do not dry out and die?''
Bravehearts though we are, we did think that we may have to decline the Woodlands Trust 's wonderful and very generous offer.
However the Pembrokeshire grapevine is such a wonderful thing. We spoke to Tenby Junior school's headmistress, the deputy head and their caretaker (who is a shining light in all things conservation; they knew a woodlands officer, who knew people from the Pembrokshire Coast National Park, who knew the leader of the Scouts, who new...... well, you get the drift.
To cut a very long story short (because the Pembrokeshire grape vine works very quickly) the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park not only agreed to send their own woodland officers to help to plant the trees, but also helped to organise the event and advertised it to attract more volunteers.
December 5th 2009 was National Tree Planting Day, sponsored by the BBC's Breathing Places. The Guinness Book of Records was also recruited to record a ''World Tree Planting' record attempt. The record was to be not just how many trees could be planted on this day, but within the space of one hour, between 11am and noon.
All preparations were made including the lure of hot soup, bread rolls and cake. Like knights with shining spades, our volunteers arrived on a brisk, cold and (later)rainy day to plant those little saplings of Oak, Ash, Flowering Cherry, Crab Apple, Rowan, Silver Birch, Blackthorn, Willow, Hazel and Dog and Guelder Rose. A new woodland was thus born to help, in years to come, reduce pollution and our carbon footprint, and to help put oxygen back into into our small world.
We would like to say a big thank you to the Woodland trust for their sponsorship, to the Pembrokeshire National Park for all their help and advice, and to ALL the brave souls who ventured out on that cold day. We hope they all come back regularly to see the fruits of their labour and we promise we will love and lookafter our new family of young trees, to nurture them and to talk to them every day (collectivly you understand). Thank you, too, to Tenby Junior School's staff and pupils who came to help us and who, as we write this, are making for us about fifty bird, bat and insect boxes that they will install and visit regularly to see who is 'at home'.
I know all our returning guests will enjoy seeing the new trees and will come back over the years to see them blossom and grow.