Bunscoil Phobal Feirste, Belfast
Date: 20 March 2008
No. of trees planted: 3
No. of people involved: 10
It was cold, wet and windy when we arrived at Bunscoil Phobal Feirste, an Irish language Primary School in West Belfast.
The school had officially closed at lunch time for the Easter Holidays but some hardy pupils plus their teacher had remained behind to help plant three rowan trees close to the front entrance of the school.
The school is set against the background of the hills surrounding Belfast and has already some established trees in the grounds. The pupils, all girls, braved the cold and the worms to plant the trees, all the time switching effortlessly between Irish and English languages.
Jeff from Conservation Volunteers also toured some of the school grounds with the teacher and pupils identifying species and offering advise on their maintenance.
The girls then had their own naming ceremony to choose names for their newly planted trees, Princess being the most popular choice. An enjoyable time was had and the girls were rightly proud of their achievement.