Pupils planting for the future in the Western Isles
Children in their first year of school were busy planting trees this week as part of the Trees for Primary Schools project, writes Fiona Scott.
Five children from Shawbost Primary School on the Isle of Lewis joined youngsters from other schools to plant trees in their school grounds as part of the project organised by the Rotary Club of Stornoway and supported by Point and Sandwick Trust and the Croft Woodlands Project.
In total 120 children from five schools on the Western Isles planted a mix of native species, all of which will add shelter,
A Shawbost Primary pupil helps with the tree planting.
wildlife habitat and landscape diversity to the island.
Andrew Sim, president of the
Rotary Club of Stornoway and Robin Reid, Croft Woodland Project advisor for Lewis and Harris, joined pupils and teachers at Shawbost last week to get the new trees in the ground. Andrew said: ‘It was really rewarding to get the trees planted at Shawbost and to see how much the children enjoyed digging them in. This project has been a pleasure to roll out and we plan to do the same for 2022. We hope many more local schools will take up the opportunity.’ Point and
Sandwick Trust are committed partners in the project, which ties in with their own focus on the environment and their work with the Croft Woodland Project and efforts to help crofters plant trees in the Western Isles.
Organisers hope the project will continue for many years and attract more schools.
Honorary president of Point and Sandwick Trust Angus McCormack said: ‘This project offers a wonderful legacy for these children to look back with pride planted in education.’
The project is open to any primary school in the Western Isles and offers children a valuable opportunity to find out about planting and growing trees and caring for their environment. Each child will receive a certificate of tree planting and the school will have a map of where the individual trees have been planted. All trees were sourced locally from Stark’s Ark in Leurbost. at the tree they their first year of