The weather was perfect for our event on Sunday and it stayed dry throughout, considering the torrential rain we had two days earlier.
The children set off with their parents from the main entrance following a brief talk from Pam and Ian, as to what activities the children would be doing.
Ian explained that the children would be searching for tree seeds along the route and searching on the ground, whereas Pam asked the children to look up at the silhouettes of the trees against the sky.
Andy pointed out the hawthorn berries immediately above their heads and then led the children to see an oak tree growing not far from the entrance gate.
Pam spoke about the various sizes of trees, from seedling through to ancient and showed them one of our Champion trees. Then to her surprise, one of the younger children mentioned about how to tell the age of a tree from the rings inside the trunk, which Ian was able to then point out further along the path
Although there were some muddy paths along the way, that didn’t deter our group of children, as they couldn’t wait to start collecting various tree seeds in their biodegradable pots to take back to plant at the gazebo.
By the time they reached the gazebo, everyone was eager to have the refreshments, which Helen had kindly set up.
Then it was time for making their Silhouette Pictures having been inspired by the various shapes they’d seen along the route.
The children were then shown how to draw and cut out the shapes of a veteran tree and with parents helping with some of the cutting out, some beautiful Silhouette Pictures were produced.
Alongside this activity, Ian was busy guiding each child with planting their seeds, so that they could take them home, look after them there, keep them watered and eventually re-plant.
Once all the hard work had been achieved, Pam handed each child a certificate from the Friends and presented one child with a bird feeder as a thank you for being such a good health & safety helper.
The children were thrilled when Helen handed out some ‘googly eyes’ for the children to add to their pictures once they got home.
Then it was time for a quick photo of all the wonderful artwork.
Thanks to:
Andrew and Ian for strimming
Andrew, David; Helen, Andy and John for transporting equipment.
Ian & Andy for conducting the walk.
Helen – refreshments, photos and assistance throughout.
Brenda for printing the certificates.
Morrison’s for donating fruit, water, cookies, pots & water spray bottle etc
Sainsbury’s for yellow bunting.