Wicklow students help Coillte launch photo competition
STUDENTS from Our Lady’s National School and St. Saviour’s National School from Rathdrum, helped Coillte launch a brand-new photography competition for primary school students, running from now until the end of February and into March, to celebrate the upcoming events of this year’s National Tree Week.
The competition is aimed at encouraging students to engage with nature and understand the importance of trees in safeguarding our planet for tomorrow. To enter, teachers and pupils are being asked to take a picture of their favourite tree or a favourite outdoor nature space and simply upload it to the Coillte website. Four winners will be selected, with each receiving an exciting trip for them and their class to ‘Beyond the Trees Avondale’ at Coillte’s Avondale Forest Park in Rathdrum.
National Tree Week, organised by The Tree Council of Ireland and proudly supported by Coillte, is Ireland’s largest annual tree celebration. This year’s theme, ‘Planting Trees for a Greener Future’, highlights the unique role trees and forests play in helping to address climate change. This year will see Coillte once again donate 150,000 tree saplings to local community groups for planting, to mark the annual celebration.
Speaking at the launch of National Tree Week 2024, Cormac Downey, President of the Tree Council of Ireland said: “National Tree Week is all about communities joining together and celebrating all the good things that trees and forests do for us. This year’s theme, ‘Planting Trees for a Greener Future’ is what National Tree Week is all about and we hope everyone will get involved in a local event this year. If you are thinking of getting involved, we would encourage you to do so with simple activities like hosting walks, discussions, or community planting. These important events we hope will encourage everyone to play their part in planting more trees for a greener future.”
Running from Sunday, March 3 to Sunday, March 10, National Tree Week will see a packed schedule of activities, from group forest walks and tree-planting events to workshops and forestry talks.