Environmentally-active Harrogate pupils plant hundreds of trees on school campus

She led from the front: Tributes paid to chief of Harrogate Homeless Project after her decision to step down

In an ongoing partnership with the Woodland Trust, pupils under the supervision of the independent school’s grounds team added 420 native British trees – a mixture of hazel, blackthorn, crab apple, dog rose and rowan - to create a hedge running adjacent to one of its sports pitches and a public footpath.

This is in addition to 500 native trees that were planted last November to enhance existing hedges or establish new ones to the southwest edge of the 64-acre campus.

The Woodland Trust has provided all the trees as part of its Big Climate Fightback campaign, which has so far seen more than 1.8 million trees planted by schools, community groups and businesses around the UK.

As the saplings grow, they will provide a habitat and movement corridors for wildlife and produce pollen, nectar, nuts, fruit and berries for insects, birds and small mammals.

Annual tree-plantings are among many initiatives led by Ashville College’s dedicated Green Committee, which works hard to encourage pupils to think about how their actions can either harm or benefit the environment.

In the last two weeks of term, the Green Committee also ran a Fairtrade stall in the College’s Pre-Prep, Prep, and Senior Schools, where pupils were the vendors.

In addition to protecting workers’ rights, and striving for safer working conditions and fairer pay for workers, and high quality, ethically produced products for shoppers, Fairtrade means sustainable trade, and environmental protection is a key element of Fairtrade’s view of sustainability.

The pupils sold items which they had bought from the Harrogate Fair Trade Shop, with a double philanthropic benefit, as the proceeds are going to Edukid, an organisation which provides a primary, secondary and university education, enabling the most disadvantaged children to achieve their dreams and break out of their poverty.

Cathy Price, Ashville College Green Committee lead, said: “The latest round of tree planting and the Fairtrade stall have come at the end of an extremely busy term for Green Committee members.

“Climate change and the environment have been on everyone’s radar, and this is going to continue. By making even small changes to our daily routines, collectively we make a big difference to the environment in which we live, work and go to school.”

For more information about Ashville College, please visit www.ashville.co.uk

Harrogate charity's plea to support its Christmas fundraising campaign for Henshaws Arts and Crafts Centre