Pupils receive special visit for royal event

Pupils from a Sunderland primary school received a visit from a group of special guests this week, as part of a royal tree planting ceremony.

The ceremony, which took place on 31 March, saw dozens of pupils from St. Mary's RC Primary School plant 100 trees to coincide with the 'Queen's Green Canopy'.

Peppered across school grounds, the trees will grow to form a green boundary around the school, as well as establishing a small orchard and increasing its 'Forest Classroom' area.

The pupils were also joined on the day by a delegation of special guests to mark the occasion. This included the Deputy Lieutenant, John Mowbray OBE; the Mayor of Sunderland, Cllr Alison Smith; Ross Weddle, the Chair of the North East Community Forest and José-Luis Linares of the Forestry Commission.

The Mayor of Sunderland, Cllr Smith, said: "It was a real pleasure attending the tree planting ceremony and seeing how enthusiastic the children were to roll up their sleeves and get involved.

"The tree and hedge planting at St Mary's is one of 13 sites where planting is being undertaken in Sunderland this season, as we seek to replace damaged and diseased trees across the city as part of the Government's Local Authority Treescapes Fund as well as planting more than 5,000 trees as part of the Trees for Climate fund.

"The mass planting will not only improve our tree cover and greenspaces, but it will also play an enormous part in the city's goal to become carbon neutral by 2040 and to build the city's resilience in the face of climate change."

Martin Clephane, headteacher at St. Mary's Primary School, said: "We are blessed to have lovely school grounds and an extensive forest school which the children really take great pride in.

"The mature trees and abundant wildlife are part of our school life, so much so that we even strive to ensure the environment is woven into our school curriculum wherever possible.

"It is fitting, therefore, that St. Mary's is taking part in the planting of these trees as part of the Queen's Green Canopy project.

"The project is not only a beautiful memorial to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, but a vital contribution to the protection of British nature and the local environment."

Ross Weddle, chair of the North East Community Forest, added: "Over the past 50 years, I've helped plant trees across the UK as part of my role, but it is always incredibly satisfying working on projects such as this and seeing so many young people enthused by the events.

"By working on projects within schools such as St Mary's, it helps educate people from a young age about the benefits of biodiversity and enables us to work with schools to develop their curriculum - or in this case - even their own community orchards that will provide fresh, locally grown fruit for pupils to gather and eat. It's been a fantastic project to be involved in."

Sunderland City Council has supported a number of carbon-reducing projects over recent months as part of its Low Carbon Framework, which aims to see the city become carbon neutral by 2040.

For more information on Sunderland's Low Carbon Framework, visit: www.sunderland.gov.uk/lowcarbon