Ballynure Primary School, Ballynure (2007)
Date: 6 March 2007
No. of trees planted: 3
No. of people involved: 15
What could be more fun than mucking about in a pond, sawing large fallen branches apart, creating little habitats for minibeasts and, last but not least, planting some trees to give everything a finishing touch?
Some children of Ballynure Primary School had the opportunity to experience this wonderful adventure. A wildlife garden already existed in the school grounds, but was in need of a lot of love. It seemed that for ages this amazing place had been used as a dumping ground for garden waste rather than a beautiful garden (we even found an old Christmas tree!). The existing pond was filled up with many years worth of leaves and lots of stones, which seemed to have been thrown in carelessly. Around the pond, many fallen branches made the area untidy and unaccessible.
On a lovely sunny day a bunch of children set themselves the target to tidy this little wildlife area. Whilst some sawed the fallen branches apart, some started to clear out leaves and stones from the pond. Using the cut branches and the Christmas tree, three logpiles were created, which will support minibeasts in the garden. Frogs (we already found one) and hopefully many other delightful animals will also eventually find a home here.
After having fun at tidying everything, the children were still full of energy and more motivated then ever. So we set of to plant three lovely trees at the front of the school. After having planted the trees the children beamed with pride and promised to look after their trees and now and again have a chat with them!