On Saturday 19th March, 2022, 500+ trees were planted at Downview Recreation area by children and young people - and their amazing grown-ups - from the 1st East Wittering Rainbows, Brownies and Guides. The tree planting day was organised by Manhood Wildlife & Heritage Group (MWHG) in association with East Wittering & Bracklesham Parish Council who own the Downview site, and the amazing Jacqui Manuels, leader of the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides.
It was a beautiful bright and sunny day, if a little "breezy" (to put it mildly!), and started with our first volunteers arriving at 9.30am. More and more volunteers arrived throughout the morning, full of energy and enthusiasm, excited to plant trees, see their friends and make a difference to their local environment. The children ranged in age from toddlers through to teenagers, some of them fitting it in around their usual busy Saturday morning activities. It was lovely to see all the children and their parents giving up their own time to work together for their local environment and community.
The MWHG team carried out demonstrations throughout the day on how to plant the trees and the amazing volunteers soon got stuck in! In a surprisingly short period of time a huge number of trees had been planted. We finished up around 12.30 with over 500 trees planted around the Downview site. Everyone was excited to be part of such a positive and fulfilling morning that will really make a difference to the local community.
All the trees planted are native species. Planting native trees creates habitat for wildlife, helps improve local biodiversity, contributes to fighting climate change, improves air quality, and helps reduce flooding and soil erosion, not to mention the benefits trees can bring to our mental and physical well-being.
We will be continuing our work with the 1st East Wittering Rainbows, Brownies and Guides Group over the coming months, running sessions on the local environment, wildlife, conservation, and climate change, and supporting them in achieving badges broadly relating to these topics. Huge thanks to Jacqui Manuels who helped make this event possible. This work is generously funded by The Woodger Trust.
The children who attend the 1st East Wittering Rainbows, Brownies and Guides at Downview Hall will be able to see their trees grow up as they do and can feel very proud of what they have achieved.
THANK YOU!
We would like to thank East Wittering & Bracklesham Parish Council for wanting to make these improvements to the Downview site for biodiversity and to fight climate change. We also thank Lewis Brownlee Financial Services and John Wiley & Sons Ltd who have made generous donations to pay for our biodegradable tree guards and bamboo canes. We try to use biodegradable tree guards as much as possible to avoid adding more plastic to the environment, but sadly they are not cheap so we're very grateful for these donations. Huge thanks also to The Woodger Trust.
We would like to ask the wonderful people of East Wittering and surrounding areas to help make this initiative a success by taking care of the little trees and by sharing this on your own social media pages. Thank you!