On Wednesday, 19th February, 400 trees were planted in the old Pitch and Put area of Valentines Park, Ilford, by around 40 local volunteers. The event was timed to coincide with “Show the love” month https://www.theclimatecoalition.org/show-the-love and was organised by Nature Conservation Redbridge https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/leisure-sport-and-the-arts/nature-conservation/ and Transition Town Ilford. https://ilfordtransition.wordpress.com/ Parents brought their children along and those taking part ranged from 2 to 70 plus! We even had a 3 month old baby in his pram!

Volunteers ready to start planting.

We began with warm up exercises and simple songs about  planting trees,  along with an explanation by Francis Castro, of Nature Conservation Ranger Team, about the benefits of  nature and trees. We then got stuck in to planting the trees, kindly donated by the Woodland Trust. Working together the trees were soon planted. We wrote on green paper hearts what we love about nature which we don’t want to lose, hung the hearts  on the trees and enjoyed home made cake and  hot drinks. It was great to see parents so interested in giving their children a practical opportunity to do something to care for nature and make Ilford a greener place to live.