St. Macnissis's Primary School, Newtownabbey
Date: 13 March 2007
No. of trees planted: 200
No. of people involved: 160
On a (thankfully) dry morning, we headed towards St. McNissi’s Primary School. Our mission was to plant 200 small trees (downy birch, blackthorn, rowan, grey willow and hazel) to create a small woodland. Some of the children had forgotten their wellies, but a few shopping bags did the trick in the moist and muddy soil!
Two groups of children (80 at a time!) came out to help us plant – one before lunch and one after. We managed to sort the children into groups of four and they all worked together and made a great effort to make sure that everyone in their group got to plant a tree. After the tree planting, we were invited inside for a cup of tea and biscuits and even went home with boxes of chocolates!
The school told us how grateful they were that the Northern Ireland Tree Campaign had chosen their school, as they had wanted a small woodland for a long time. We left the school, leaving behind a rather muddy lawn, and 200 young trees. The children had a lot of fun and so did we!