Community comes together to plant trees for the Jubilee

To celebrate Chester becoming a Queen’s Green Canopy Champion City, volunteers came together to plant 360 trees at a community event in the Countess of Chester Country Park on Saturday, 15th January.

Over 40 volunteers joined The Mersey Forest, The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) and the Friends of the Countess of Chester Park group to plant a range of native trees including Oak, Birch, Hawthorn and Hazel.

The woodland will form part of the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC), a unique, national tree planting initiative to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee this year.

Chester has been recognised as a QGC Champion City, joining 13 other cities nationally, and will work with The Mersey Forest to undertake a wide range of tree planting projects across the borough, throughout the year.

Alongside the woodland planting, The Lord-Lieutenant, Lady Redmond planted a Jubilee tree on the site, before presenting a plaque to the Sheriff of Chester, Councillor Jill Houlbrook, on behalf of the Queen’s Green Canopy Foundation, in recognition of the city’s status as a QGC Champion City.   

The Jubilee tree species is an Oak, a native species which will grow to up to 40 metres high and supports more life than any other native tree species in the UK.

The Sheriff of Chester also planted an Oak tree on the day to mark the 900^th anniversary of the role of Sheriff of Chester.

The Lord-Lieutenant, Lady Redmond MBE, said: “I am extremely proud that Chester has been given this well deserved award as one of the QGC’s Champion Cities.  Congratulations on a fantastic plan for planting new trees and establishing new woodland within the city, as well as supporting local people to be trained in woodland creation and management; an impressive and important legacy celebrating Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.’”

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: “It’s great to see so many people getting involved with the tree planting at this popular local park. This site forms part of the wider Mersey Forest, which is connecting people with nature, something that we know is beneficial for our residents’ health and wellbeing. As it establishes, the woodland will become a carbon store, playing an important role in helping the borough to become carbon neutral by 2045, as well as boosting biodiversity in the area.”

The trees planted have been funded by The Mersey Forest Foundation.  The Foundation is the charitable arm of The Mersey Forest Partnership and allows local people and businesses to donate towards tree planting across Merseyside and Cheshire.

Over the past 30 years, over two million new trees have been planted across Cheshire West and Chester, establishing new woodlands across the borough that are providing new opportunities for communities and businesses as part of The Mersey Forest as well as addressing climate change.

During the 2021/22 planting season, 50 hectares of new woodland will be planted across west Cheshire.

For more information about The Mersey Forest, visit:

www.merseyforest.org.uk

Queen’s Green Canopy

By inviting everyone to plant considerable numbers of new trees throughout the country to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, the QGC seeks to highlight the significant value of trees and woodlands as nature’s simple but highly effective way to clean the air we breathe, slow the impact of climate change, create important wildlife habitats and improve our general health and wellbeing.

Other UK cities which have been awarded QGC Champion status include Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Greater Manchester, Leicester, Newcastle, Preston, Swansea, Southampton, Worcester and York.

Further information about the QGC is available:

www.queensgreencanopy.org

Pictured - Tree planting at the Countess of Chester Country Park.