Play England, part of leading children's charity the National Children's Bureau, would like to say a big thank you to all the children, young people, parents and local residents who volunteered to help plant over 300 trees on Saturday 19 November as part of the Exploring Nature Play Project.

Working in partnership with North Tyneside Council, Play England was joined at the tree-planting bonanza at Shiremoor Adventure Playground by Young Mayor Rebecca Leighton and playground regular Demi Deck, who planted the 'Royal Oak Tree' from the Queen's own Jubilee Estate.

Local councilors Bryan Burdis and Tommy Mulvenna also donned their wellies alongside 130 local children and residents to plant native broadleaf trees donated by the Woodland Trust's 'More Trees: More Good' campaign that aims to plant 20 million trees per year for the next 50 years. It's hoped that through the simple act of planting trees, children will grow up with a respect for the environment.

Play England has been awarded £500,000 for the Exploring Nature Play project, which is helping children to explore and become more aware of nature, the opportunities nature provides for play and the enjoyment that it brings.The grant is from Natural England's Access to Nature programme - part of the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces initiative. 

Janet Orrock, Nature Play Development Worker at Play England, said: 'We're grateful to everyone who took the time to plant trees and support such a successful day. We planted over 300 trees, which over the coming months and years will make a real difference to the experiences children and young people have at Shiremoor Adventure Playground and will encourage more children to engage with the natural environment through play.'

 

ENDS

Photographs taken on the day are available

 

Note to editors

About the Exploring Nature Play Project
Play England's 'Exploring Nature Play' project aims to help children explore and become more aware of nature around them and the opportunities for play and enjoyment that it provides. The project is funded by Natural England's 'Access to Nature' programme - funded by the Big Lottery Fund.

About Play England
Play England is part of the leading national children's charity NCB, and campaigns for all children to have the freedom and space to play throughout childhood. As the national organisation for children's play, Play England works with all those who have an impact on children's lives to support and champion play as an essential part of childhood. For further information or to talk to a media spokesperson, call 020 7843 6045 or 07721 097033.

The National Children's Bureau's (NCB) mission is to advance the well-being of all children and young people across every aspect of their lives.  As the leading national charity which supports children, young people and families, and those who work with them, across England and Northern Ireland, we focus on identifying and communicating high impact, community and family-centred solutions. We work with organisations from across the voluntary, statutory and private sectors through our membership scheme and through the sector-led specialist networks and partnership programmes that operate under our charitable status www.ncb.org.uk.

About Access to Nature
1. Access to Nature is run by Natural England and funded through the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme, which launched in November 2005 to help communities enjoy and improve their local environments.

2. Natural England manages this £28.75 million Lottery-funded programme on behalf of a consortium of twelve national environmental organisations comprising BTCV, British Waterways, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Greenspace, Groundwork UK, Land Restoration Trust, The National Trust, Natural England, RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts and the Woodland Trust.

3. Through this programme, it is Natural England's ambition to create opportunities for people from all backgrounds to have greater access to our natural environment and bring a lasting change to their awareness and understanding as well as improved links to the natural world, which many of us can take for granted.

4. Access to Nature closed to applications in May 2010 but for further information about the programme visit www.naturalengland.org.uk/accesstonature.

5. The Big Lottery Fund is the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004.  For further information about the Big Lottery Fund, its programmes and awards visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk. 

About nature play
Nature play is children exploring and enjoying the natural environment through their freely-chosen play. As well as simply enjoying playing outdoors and discovering green spaces near their homes, nature play could include planting and growing vegetables, fruit and flowers; cooking outdoors; playing with the elements or making camps and dens with natural materials.

Nature play can happen anywhere - in a local patch of grass, green space, bit of woodland or park; in an adventure playground or school grounds; in a garden or allotment; at the beach or in and around a stream or pond; or at destination sites like country parks, forests, environmental and wildlife projects.