1,500 trees have been planted in the City of Salford, contributing to the goal of planting a tree for every man, woman and child across Greater Manchester.
Community groups, volunteers as well as local businesses have all been lending a hand to help plant a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees such as Holly and Hawthorn.
2016 marks the tenth year of partnership between environmental charities Trees for Cities and Red Rose Forest, with four tree planting sessions involving more than 100 volunteers planting 1,500 trees taking place.
The new trees took root in West Salford along Port Salford greenway, which is a traffic-free cycling and walking path for leisure and commuting, connecting the communities of Winton, Peel Green and Brookhouse.
As well as replacing some of the trees lost when the recreational pathway was created, the trees will create a ‘green screen’ where the busy M60 motorway borders green spaces.
Trees are well known for their positive impact on the environment; they remove harmful pollutants from the air; provide a buffer to noise, intercept rain to mitigate localised flooding and provide a pleasing aesthetic barrier.
As well as community groups taking part, businesses also got their hands dirty. Employees from PHS data solutions, a leading provider of document scanning, records management and confidential document destruction, funded the planting of 100 trees for customers as part of its World Paper Free pledge last autumn. In addition staff from More Than Insurance came along to help contribute.
On Thursday 31 March the last of the 1,500 trees went in the ground supported by volunteers and local community groups including Monton Amateurs FC.
Trees for Cities and Red Rose Forest have been delivering projects in Greater Manchester since 2006 and have planted almost 35,000 trees engaging over 2,000 local volunteers.
Red Rose Forest is part of a new movement – Manchester City of Trees. Spearheaded by a number of committed partners it aims to plant three million trees in the next two decades – one for each man, woman and children in Greater Manchester.
Kevin Wigley from Red Rose Forest comments; “This scheme demonstrates that everyone can do their bit for planting more trees. We hope that this will inspire the people of Greater Manchester to contribute to the vision of planting a tree for every man, woman and child across the city region”
Kate Sheldon from Trees for Cities adds; “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our long-term partnership than through planting trees with the local community in Salford. We hope that the children will watch these trees thrive and enjoy them for many years to come’
Photo: Volunteers Candy Dauns and Nikos Rossios with Ian McDougal.
