A Macclesfield school has gained hundreds of trees thanks to a new voluntary group.

There was a fantastic turnout of enthusiastic volunteers at St Alban's Catholic Primary School on Sunday 12th February.

Staff, pupils and parents joined with volunteers from Macc Wild Network Trust to plant 800 trees and hedging plants.

Hawthorn, blackthorn, dog rose, hazel and dogwood were planted to make new hedgerows while oak, rowan, birch, bird cherry, field maple and aspen will create small copses around the edge of the playing fields.

And it wasn't just about creating space for wildlife, hedgerow circles were planted to create sheltered play areas for the children.

St Alban's Catholic Primary School is located in Upton Priory.

The volunteers also moved about 40 wheelbarrow loads of bark mulch to spread around the newly planted trees to suppress competition from other vegetation and give them the best possible start.

The tree planting was just the latest stage of the plan to transform the school grounds into a wildlife habitat and an exciting place for the pupils to play and learn.

Last August, an area of new meadow was created in the grounds using green hay scythed by volunteers from the meadow at the Leisure Centre and the next stage will see more fruit trees planted to extend the orchard.

The school is located on Priory Lane.

Macc Wild Network Trustee, Diana Moss said, "It was wonderful to see so many enthusiastic staff, pupils and parents out planting trees today. The planting will make the school grounds a better place for both people and wildlife.

"Macc Wild Network is looking forward to continuing to work with St Alban's School community on the future plans for the grounds."

The trees were kindly supplied by TCV (The Conservation Volunteers) through their excellent I Dig Trees scheme.

Macc Wild Network plan to plant more trees at a Macclesfield school next month.

Macclesfield: Find more info about Macc Wild Network on the red links above. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Macclesfield Nub News)

Macclesfield: You can find more about Macc Wild Network on their website and Facebook.

See Also: Rewilding project to expand at Macclesfield Leisure Centre

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