BUDDING gardeners are invited to special free sessions to help them turn their beds and plots into havens for flowers and wildlife.
As part of Volunteers Week (June 1 – 12), One Planet Pioneers project officers Nicky Morgan and Casper Scallen will be helping young people aged 14 to 21 build pollinator habitat boxes out of recycled and natural materials.
All those taking part in sessions on Thursday, June 2 and Friday, June 10 will receive a wild flower seed kit donated by the ‘Grow Wild’ Team based at Kew Royal Botanic Garden.
And at next Friday’s event McDonald’s will supply fruit bags, water and orange juice as part of the fast food chain’s Love Where You Live project.
The sessions are the first of this exciting five-year One Planet Pioneers project, a community engagement programme aimed at 14- to 21-year-olds based on the One Planet Living sustainability model.
One Planet Pioneers is part of a national project called Our Bright Future, a £33 million programme funded via the Big Lottery Fund and run by a consortium of eight organisations led by The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts.
In Middlesbrough One Planet Pioneers is a partnership between Middlesbrough Environment City, Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, Actes, Teesside University and a range of local community organisations.
One Planet Pioneers project officer Nicky Morgan said: “The object of the project is to improve quality of life while addressing the social, economic and environmental challenges faced by young people of Middlesbrough by engaging a greater number of them in actions that promote sustainable living and behaviour.
“Over the next five years we will be engaging them in a variety of conservation and sustainability community volunteering projects, alongside a range of fun and exciting training opportunities and a number of apprenticeship opportunities.”
- The first session takes place at Linthorpe Cemetery on Thursday, June 2 from 10am to 12.30pm, and the second in partnership with Hemlington Linx Youth project on Friday, June 10, also from 10am to 12.30pm.
For more information about One Planet Pioneers contact Nicky Morgan on 01642 579839 or Casper on 01642 579 832