The Planting of 500 Trees – Successful Grant Fund Application

Following the success of TWiG in their Parish Council Grant Funding Application, members of the 1st Bickerton Scouts and 1st Tattenhall Guides were set to assist in the planting of 500 trees, together with a wildflower meadow, at Broad Oak Farm last month.

Covering 0.4 hectares (1 acre), Broad Oak Farm is farmed by Drew and Suzanne Miller, and lies within the Tattenhall Parish Boundary. The newly created woodland and wildflower meadow will be located on the farm boundaries and extended to include a field specifically designated for Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme use.

The Millers are keen to promote environmental education for all users and participants and to enhance biodiversity conservation and interpretation. As the woodland matures, permissive access will be given to groups such as TWiG (for management tasks and ecological surveys). A longer ambition is to create a permissive footpath from the campsite to join the public footpath which connects with Public Footpath FP11 and the village via FP2.

This tree planting initiative represents community engagement at its very best and this is third occasion when youngsters from these local groups have been involved in practical environmental projects, in support of their badge work.

500 trees were sourced from The Woodland Trust, spray was purchased to accurately mark out the planting areas, wildflower meadow seed was selected and delivered, additional spades for youngsters were purchased and the refreshments were ordered. All was ready for this full-day event.

And then the COVID-19 pandemic and life as we had known it altered forever.

The safety of the Scouts, Guides and others could not be compromised since the youngsters and adults would have been working in teams of two and in very close proximity.

That said, the Trees had to be planted!

Suzanne and Drew Miller of Broad Oak Farm could never have contemplated that they would end up planting the best part of 500 Trees virtually single-handedly and for that we applaud them!

Thanks too, to local friend Anne Fowler and her children – each family working on either side of the field and strictly complying with all the government announcements regarding social distancing.

Do you have any idea what 500 trees look like? (click on each image to enlarge)