St Columba’s School, Kilmacolm is supporting biodiversity and developing green spaces by developing a fruit orchard which will create produce for its partnered food bank, thanks to funding from The Tree Council’s Branching Out Fund.
Branching Out provides grants ranging from £250 to £2,500 in value to community groups, schools, small registered charities, and Tree Warden Networks seeking to establish trees, hedgerows, and orchards throughout the winter planting season.
This February, St Columba’s School successfully secured grant support through the Branching Out Fund to plant apple and pear trees on an underused area of the school grounds. The project has been driven by St Columba’s School’s Gardening Club, a dedicated group of 15 members of various ages, supported by Depute Rector, Mr. McLaughlin.
Over the past seven years, the team has developed five areas of empty space into a vibrant flower and vegetable garden on the school grounds and in doing so, the school has achieved gold level in the Woodland Trust’s Green Tree School Award and has been awarded the highest level in the RHS Campaign for School Gardening.
For this project, the trees that the Gardening Club have chosen are varieties which will produce a large yield which the school will be able to donate to their local food bank, and the trees are cross-pollinators which will help to support the local environment. The pupils worked with Inverclyde Homeless Forum to tailor their planting towards their needs, and will be able to donate the school’s annual harvest to support those in need.
As well as the benefits the club provides to the local community, the pupils are vocal about how their involvement with the club has significantly improved their mental well-being.
Mr McLaughlin said, “It has been great for me to watch the positive impact our club has made on the young people that attend. Inverclyde is one of the more disadvantaged areas in the UK, and our club members are using their position of advantage to make a positive impact in other people’s lives through something that they take joy in. It is wonderful to see their vision take shape.”
The planting took place the first week of March, with the school’s older club members and Mr McLaughlin putting in long hours to ensure the future success of the site. The club has established a care plan which will ensure each tree thrives after planting and that the orchard will be sustained for the future.
Now in its 18th year, Branching Out has supported hundreds of projects in communities throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, delivering new habitats for wildlife, and a green living legacy for residents and visitors to enjoy, from Cornwall to Carmarthenshire, and Fife to Fermanagh.
The focus is on planting a variety of tree species, bare root, with cardboard or bioplastic protection. Comprehensive advice around the types of trees to plant and the tree protection needed is provided by The Tree Council as part of the application process.
The Tree Council Grants Officer, Geraldine Creaven said: “Branching Out presents a fantastic opportunity for schools and community groups large and small to get their spades in the ground and start establishing life-enhancing and biodiversity boosting trees, hedgerows, and orchards in their neighbourhoods.
“We’re so thrilled for all our successful applicants, especially St Columba’s!”
Visit St Columba’s blog and social media to see the progress of the project. You can find all the links on www.st-columbas.org.
To find out more about The Tree Council’s Branching Out Fund, please visit https://treecouncil.org.uk/grants-and-guidance/our-grants/branching-out-fund/
