Support For Wick Trees From Inverness To Malawi
A scheme to breathe new life into a small stand of trees at Wick Riverside Park in the heart of Wick has drawn wide support from Inverness to Malawi.
The trees in question, a rather straggly although strangely architectural, collection of predominantly sycamores have featured in many photographs and pictures of the town taken from Wick Riverside for many years. Recently however, time has started to take its toll with several casualties of old age and disease having to be removed for safety reasons. This has left the postage-stamp woodland increasingly open and bare.
Local Countryside Ranger, Lindsey Duncan and Inverness based Forestry Officer, Nick Richards, saw this scheme as a good opportunity to get the Global Xchange programme involved. The group of 9 Scots and 9 Malawian volunteers were very happy to leave behind a growing memento of their visit. Trisha Sangaya, from Malawi said: “Malawi has many forests and it is an honour to help the people of Wick by planting a tree that will hopefully flourish over the coming years.”
A variety of tree species were chosen to plant-up the area including Holly, Elm and Scot’s Pine which will provide a variety of shapes and colours through the year whilst also providing an improved habitat for wildlife. The improvement for wildlife and the enjoyment of the public also proved to be attractive to Scottish Natural Heritage who financially supported the project, which will include further hedge planting along the Wick riverside path.
Global Xchange is an exciting international exchange programme run in partnership by VSO, the British Council, CSV (Community Service Volunteers), and supported by the Scottish Executive. It aims to develop Scotland’s already strong historical links with Malawi and bring young people together to make a valuable contribution to local communities both in Scotland and the developing world.
After completing their community work in Caithness the team will then travel to Mzuzu, Malawi to assist local community groups and organisations for three months before returning home to support their own communities with their newly developed skills.
If you are interested in getting involved with Global Xchange please contact Rohanna Law, Programme Supervisor on 07968 506 324 or rohanna.law@vso.org.uk
For more information see www.globalxchange.org.uk
The Countryside Rangers are part of the Highland Council Planning and Development Service and are supported in their work by Scottish Natural Heritage. Other services involved in his project are Economic Development and TEC services who also helped to fund the project.
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