Community joins forces to replenish borough beauty spot
Guides, scouts, and community groups joined forces and laid the seeds to replace a giant hedgerow at a borough beauty spot.
The project at the Three Fields, off Dunsley Road in Stourbridge, was led by Kingswinford and Stourbridge Lions in conjunction with Dudley Council.
Lions members were joined last weekend by 6th Stourbridge Guides, 17th Stourbridge Scout Group, The Three Fields Community Group and Friends of the Earth Stourbridge.
They combined to plant 520 whips provided by the Lions and the council’s green care team, as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) project.
QGC is a unique tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee this year. It invites people from across the country to “Plant a Tree for the Jubilee.”
The council already has plans to plant trees along the borough’s highways as well as increasing canopy coverage in six wards which have less coverage.
Balvinder Heran, deputy chief executive, said:
The whips were planted to create a new hedge at the bottom of the fields.
It will reinstate a traditional feature and provide future habitat for wildlife, as well as also filling a gap to the front hedge replacing losses following fire damage.
It was a fabulous turn out on a lovely sunny day bringing lots of groups together for the purpose of celebrating the Queens’ Jubilee and helping the environment and biodiversity.
Lion Lainey Jinks, President of Kingswinford Lions, said:
I would like to thank everyone who helped on the day for their hard work in completing the project.
We fully support the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative as the environment is one of the Lions’ five Global Causes - we serve to sustainably protect and restore our environment to improve the well-being of all communities.
As part of the Queen’s Green Canopy project, Dudley Council is working with a range of partners and friends groups
Projects being undertaken include restocking ancient hedgerows and planting trees and thousands of whips in green spaces across the borough.
The authority is also working with friends groups and Severn Trent Water to creating 72 tennis-court-sized ‘Tiny Forests’ in urban areas.