Leicestershire schoolchildren have planted hundreds of trees to help change five acres of a national businesses' main operation plant into new native woodland.
The 90 pupils from the Manorfield C of E Primary School, in Station Road, Stoney Stanton, visited Calor Gas' main Customer Operation Centre, in Occupation Road, to help transform a disused part of the site into a local green space.
The 2,000 trees were planted as part of the Woodland Trust's MOREWoods scheme, which aims to double native woodland cover in the UK by helping landowners create woods on their own land.
MOREwoods is being supported by Calor Gas, which is providing £250,000 over three years to the costs of the project, which includes funding the planting of 50,000 trees throughout the UK.
Penny Pulfrey from the Woodland Trust said: "Calor Gas was keen to not just give its financial support to the Trust but to also help the Trust realise its aspiration to plant 20 million trees a year in the UK by creating a wood on its own land. The best thing about this new wood is that it has been created by children from the local school, who will be able to use the wood and watch it grow as they get older and eventually have families of their own.
"Leicestershire only has 3.8% woodland cover compared to a national average of 12%, so we desperately need more trees to be planted in the county. The Trust hopes this woodland will become one of many to be created here in the coming years."
The tree planting took place over two days with the local community coming along on Saturday to plant a few trees each.
Tony Ainsworth, Customer Operation Centre Manager at Calor Gas Stoney Stanton said: “We’re delighted that the children from Manorfield School were able to come and help us create this new woodland. It will be a fantastic asset for the local community and everyone here at the Calor Operation Centre is looking forward to seeing the trees grow and the woodland develop over the years. The MOREWoods scheme is a really good cause and something that all of us at Calor are pleased to be involved with.”
To ensure woodland cover in Leicestershire increases the Trust is asking for landowners to get in contact to find out how they could benefits from the MOREwoods scheme.
Once a MOREwoods application has been put forward and is successful the charity will offer advice about land suitability, design of the wood and the species to be planted, plus support with the trees, guards and labour to plant them.
To find out more about creating your own wood visit www.moretreesmoregood.org.uk/planting