9 December 2005
Builth Wells kids give it some welly at Royal Welsh showground
Royal Welsh Show to marks centenary in tree-friendly fashion
Children from two local primary schools will be getting stuck in, planting trees this Friday, as part of the celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the Royal Welsh Show last year.
The Woodland Trust (Coed Cadw) contacted the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society last year to suggest that the Society mark this important anniversary by planting 100 native trees at the Show Ground at Builth Wells. This suggestion comes to fruition on Friday, except that the a total of 340 native trees will be planted, by children from two local schools, Llanelwedd Primary and Builth Wells Primary.
The tree planting is all part of the Woodland Trust’s ambitious Tree For All campaign1, which aims to plant a tree for every child in the UK over a five year period, 12 million in total, and to involve one million children in doing this. The aim is to help a new generation of youngsters reconnect with the natural world and have fun improving their local environment.
Roger Nock is Honorary Director - Forestry of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, that organises the Royal Welsh Show. He says: “Forestry and woodlands are a key part of the Welsh rural economy as well as the Welsh countryside. I was particularly keen to get children involved in planting these trees because it was latter generations, regrettably, that converted a good deal of our ancient woodland to farmland. Trees can be a source of income, fuel and shelter for stock and farms are lesser places without farm woodland.”
To make sure that every school in Wales has the chance to get involved in the Tree For All campaign, the Woodland Trust is offering each a free pack of 30 trees for planting a small length of hedge or a copse. Schools groups and youth groups wishing to take up this offer should log on to: www.woodland-trust.org.uk/hedge and fill in the online form. The packs come with guidance on how to plant and maintain the trees, plus bilingual curriculum linked activities. These documents can be downloaded directly from the Internet at:
www.wild-about-woods.org.uk
For media enquiries contact:
Rory Francis (Publicity and Public Affairs Officer for Wales) on 01766 832563 or 07760 171174
Afallon, Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd LL41 3RH
Email roryfrancis@woodland-trust.org.uk
or The Woodland Trust Press Office on 01476 581121, e-mail media@woodland-trust.org.uk
Notes to editors:
1. The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. It has 250,000 members and supporters. The Trust has four key aims: i) No further loss of ancient woodland; ii) Restoring and improving the biodiversity of woods; iii) Increasing new native woodland; iv) Increasing people’s awareness and enjoyment of woodland.
Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres). These include over 100 sites in Wales, with a total area of 1,580 hectares (3,900 acres). It offers free public access to nearly all of its sites. Further news can be accessed via
www.woodland-trust.org.uk. The Trust adopted a new Welsh language name in 2000: “Coed Cadw”. This is an old Welsh term, used in medieval laws to describe protected or preserved woodland.
Royal Welsh Agricultural Society Ltd
The Society is a registered charity. Its aims and objectives are to promote, agriculture, horticulture, forestry and conservation. The Royal Welsh Show, held on the permanent Showground at Llanelwedd, Builth Wells, provides a prime shop window for farming in Wales. It attracts more than 200,000 visitors, up to 7,000 entries of livestock and over 1000 trade stands together with sections covering the whole of farming and rural life in Wales. See further details at www.rwas.co.uk
