What a glorious day we were blessed with to carry out the planting of our Jubilee Hedge to commemorate the Queen’s 70 year reign. There was not a cloud in the sky as the holes were all finished off in preparation for all the children to come out and plant a sapling. It was a busy schedule to get through all the children, as well as welcome the visit by the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, Michael More-Molyneux, to officially ‘open’ our hedge.
In groups of six, the children were shown how to plant each sapling – a selection of blackthorn, hawthorn, hazel, wild cherry, rowan, oak and silver birch – by carefully holding the tree and filling in around the roots, then adding a ‘walking stick’ cane and wrapping it in its ‘dressing gown’ protective sleeve. The Form Vs kindly helped the Form Is and Reception, and by the end of the day three areas in the school had been planted – a mixed hedge between the car park and the top field, a blackthorn hedge under the old oak at the top of the drive, and a “copse” tucked away behind the Astro.
At 12 o’clock all of the Prep school gathered outside the Palmer Hall to welcome the visit by the Lord Lieutenant and other members of our Parish council, having enjoyed a guided tour of Badger Wood by the Green Team and the woods playground where the Community Service Team showed them around a Form II Forest School lesson. We were all very impressed with our special guest’s uniform – he looked very smart as he told the children how impressed he was by their care for the planet, and for planting so many trees in one day!
I think we will remember this visit and our tree planting day for a very long time…. and we hope that our trees will be enjoyed for many generations to come. Well done to everyone who planted a tree so carefully!
Penny Macfarlane
