Plant a tree - save the planet

The city council’s TreeBristol team and Cycling City team are joining hundreds of other tree enthusiasts this weekend in a national tree-planting event to help claim a Guinness World Record. And members of the public are invited to come along and get involved.

Volunteers are needed to help plant trees throughout Friday, December 4 and Saturday 5 from 10am to 4pm – with the main record attempt taking place across the country between 11am-12noon on Saturday.

In Bristol the trees are being planted to improve the scenery along the new Speedwell cycle path at Ridgeway playing fields. The cycle path, which will be completed in February 2010 will link Speedwell and St George to the Bristol Bath Railway Path. The path is one of a number of new or improved Cycling City routes that allow people to get to their destination using off-road paths or bike lanes segregated from the traffic.

Russell Horsey, senior arboricultural officer at Bristol City Council, says: “This is a great occasion for community members to come out and support a world record attempt whilst also getting a chance to see the new cycle path that Cycling City are bringing to the area.”

The council are funding the planting of big “heavy standards” trees and a new hedge. Trees for Cities are also sponsoring some of the trees. The planting sessions are open to people of all ages.

There will be a similar TreeBristol and Cycling City event on the Bristol Bath Railway path on January 26, 2010.

Trees to be planted at Ridgeway Playing Fields on the Bristol and Bath Railway Path were gathered for artists Ackroyd & Harvey’s work The Walking Forest. The saplings that make-up the work had been brought by means of slow travel from all over the UK. The project formed part of *C Words: Carbon, Climate, Capital, Culture,* a season of events at Arnolfini Contemporary Arts Centre in the run up to next week’s Copenhagen summit on climate change. *C Words* curator, James Marriot, said: “A number of the projects that formed part of the *C Words *season hope to put down roots in Bristol. The planting of the trees at the Ridgeway Playing Fields is a great example of this.”