School children plant new trees

School children in Gateshead will be putting down roots this week when they help Gateshead Council to plant over 70 new trees across the borough as part of National Tree Week.

National Tree Week is an initiative organised by the Tree Council, a national registered charity working throughout the United Kingdom to create awareness of all aspects of the value of trees.

The tree population in Britain has been in decline for more than fifty years as storms, disease, road laying and building developments have taken their toll.

To celebrate National Tree Week and conserve and sustain the local environment, Gateshead Council is transplanting a range of ornamental trees such as birch, oak and flowering cherry and young 'living' Christmas trees, measuring approximately 3 feet high, in a school in every ward of the borough. At each school, pupils will be helping council staff with the planting.

The pupils and staff at each school will then become temporary 'guardians' of their Christmas trees until they become sufficiently established after eight to ten years. They will then be re-transplanted to community locations within the same ward and become the community's Christmas tree.

Cabinet member for the environment at Gateshead Council, Councillor Michael McNestry, said: "It is important to plant and conserve Gateshead trees to ensure that we leave a landscape as beautiful and rich in trees as the one we inherited to future generations.

"Trees bring untold pleasure to people and provide essential support for a huge variety of wildlife. Their very existence contributes immeasurably to our environment and enhances our green and pleasant land.

"The planting this week will educate children to the importance of their environment encouraging 'temporary ownership' and responsibility for the well being of the tree whilst located within the grounds of their school."