Young Tree Ambassadors plant a legacy on Roughfields

In collaboration with the Tree Council’s ‘Young Tree Champions’ programme, pupils from St Andrew’s School in Hadfield have recently planted fruit trees on the Save Roughfields Campaign site, in a bid to start a community orchard.

Save Roughfields was founded in 2020 by Halina Bloggins, in response to learning that the popular green space was featured in High Peak Borough Council’s Accelerated Housing Delivery Programme. 

After years of awareness raising, petitions and endless meetings, Roughfields was approved to be registered as an Asset of Community Value by HPBC in October 2023. Whilst this still means that Roughfields is on the list for scheduled housing, if the council puts the land up for sale, the group has the right to bid for it. 

Halina, who was accompanied by members of the Save Roughfields Campaign and supporter Padfield Councillor Ollie Cross, explains, “Whilst we understand that people need houses and this is a real problem, this is such a precious resource for our community. So much so that we now have over 1600 local supporters who are fighting to try and save this land.  

“Today we are planting some trees here, but we’ve done lots of other things during the campaign. We’ve bought picnic tables for families to use, we’ve held events up here, such as sports events for the children. It’s such an important place for people to meet and socialise and for children to run about free. We are so grateful for the help of all our supporters and hopefully we can keep the fight going and eventually win!” 

The Tree Council is a national charity whose mission is to care for trees and the planet, by informing and inspiring organisations and communities to make positive lasting change. Regional lead, Sarah Scriven, told us how they had been working alongside St Andrew’s for some time, and that the school had been awarded the accolade of being an ‘Outstanding Beacon School’ due to the hard work of the passionate Year Five and Six Tree Ambassadors. 

She explained, “They have been doing a lot of work on our ‘Young Tree Champions’ project, and today they are using some of the fruit trees from the Tree Council to support the local community and to green-up the spaces. This is an area that is trying to be rewilded, and the children are planting some cherry, pear, apple and plum trees.” 

The hard-working driving force behind the innovative nature project at the school is Claire Thompson, Outdoor Learning and Forest School Instructor. Claire has helped the school plant over 350 trees on their own fields, and she told us why they were now collaborating with Save Roughfields, “We were invited by Halina because she's had ties with the school for a long time with her grandchildren, and she knew that we were involved with the Tree Council. We had a delivery of trees to the school and I offered to donate some of them to help with the Save Roughfields campaign. 

“We do a lot with the Tree Council, having regular video calls with them during our Ambassador Classes, that are run for the children by the older ambassadors. They’ve just completed a ‘Story in Nature’ creative writing competition and now we're doing an ‘Art in Nature’ project. 

“We've also got Hedgehog Ambassadors because we've discovered through a camera that the Tree Council has given to the school, that we’ve got hedgehogs on the fields. So we have lots of hedgehog houses and do work promoting their safety and welfare. 

“We've planted wildflower seeds and we do a lot of litter picking, recycling and upcycling. We also have a nature club for the Year Three and Four children, run by other pupils. Being part of the Tree Council has given them so much confidence to speak up for nature and get involved with things locally.” 

One of the Tree Ambassadors, Dexter age 9, recently won the National Young Tree Champions Under 11 Poetry Competition. You can read his inspiring poem below. 

To find out more about the Young Tree Champions Programme visit: www.youngtreechampions.org