Schools' Tree Planting 2023

 

Whatever the weather, every weekday between the 13th and 30th November around 900 children from 21 local schools planted nearly 1200 trees. Supported by around 140 volunteers - from our own team, individuals from the community, and groups from local organisations - children and staff from schools across Andover and the surrounding villages have participated in our 12th year of school tree planting.

In partnership with Test Valley Borough Council, this year we were once again planting at the Bury Hill Nature Reserve just outside Upper Clatford, creating a buffer belt of shrubby trees (hazel, blackthorn, hawthorn, dog rose, guelder rose, field maple, and spindle) interspersed with oaks.

The participating schools were:

  • Icknield School

  • Endeavour Primary King Campus

  • Balksbury Juniors

  • Norman Gate

  • Endeavour Primary Kirk Campus

  • Portway Juniors

  • Anton Juniors

  • Clatford CofE Primary

  • Balksbury Infants

  • Smannell & Enham CofE Primary

  • Abbots Ann CofE Primary

  • Hurstbourne Tarrant CofE Primary

  • Vernham Dean Gillum’s CofE Primary

  • Appleshaw St Peter’s CofE Primary

  • Andover CofE Primary

  • St John the Baptist Catholic Primary

  • Knights Enham Juniors

  • Kimpton, Thruxton & Fyfield CofE Primary

  • Knights Enham Infants

  • Wherwell Primary

  • Wolverdene


Students from Harrow Way, John Hanson, and Andover College came along to help out, and the Mayor visited on Wednesday 29th. Local businesses and organisations that kindly sent groups of volunteers to support were:

  • Stannah

  • Test Valley Borough Council

  • Carbon Footprint

  • Co-Op

  • Andover College

  • Newbury Building Society

  • Elis

  • KMI Brands

  • Rotary Club

  • Howdens Insurance

  • Plantlife

We also extend our thanks to Pikes Coaches and Unity which provided coaches and minibuses for the children to get to and from the site. Also our refreshments team who kept us warm with hot drinks, biscuits and cakes. And to all our individual volunteers! Your help was invaluable, and we hope you enjoyed it. 

We also had a lovely session on Saturday 25th November with residents of the villages at the foot of Bury Hill - the Clatfords and Abbotts Ann - who added 304 trees to the site, taking the total planted to 1500.

A tree sapling will capture 11kg of carbon in its first year alone. This means that over the next 12 months an amazing 16,500kg of carbon will be captured by the trees planted at Bury Hill this year. That’s roughly equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of 17 people in the UK. Well done and thank you to everyone who made this year’s Schools’ Tree Planting Weeks a success once again!

 
Events, Tree PlantingLaura Morrelltree planting, schools, volunteering