11/03/2022

Belfast To Celebrate The Queen's Green Canopy

Belfast Lord Mayor, Councillor Kate Nicholl will join a community celebration in Belmont Park on Saturday 12 March, to celebrate Belfast being named a 'Champion City' as part of The Queen's Green Canopy (QGC).

The Lord Mayor will be joined by the Lord Lieutenant Fionnuala Jay O'Boyle CBE DStJ and QGC Ambassador Dame Mary Peters, as well as school children and community groups from across the city, for the special tree-planting event to mark The Queen's Platinum Jubilee year.

500 hundred trees are being planted in the Belfast park as part of The Queen's Green Canopy – a tree-planting initiative which is inviting people from across the UK 'to plant a tree for the Jubilee'.

Belfast's first citizen said: "It's such an honour for Belfast to be awarded 'Champion City' status for The Queen's Green Canopy and I'm delighted that we will be marking the occasion by bringing people together and planting new trees which I hope will be enjoyed for many generations to come.

"It will be lovely for some of the children to visit the park and watch the trees that they have helped to plant, flourish and grow as they too grow. We are lucky to have an abundance of green spaces in the city and it's important that we continue to cherish the natural world around us and look after these little pockets of green in our communities that are so vital to our health and wellbeing."

The tree planting event will also support Belfast City Council's ambition to plant one million trees by 2035.

Lord-Lieutenant of The Co Borough of Belfast, Fionnuala Jay-O'Boyle CBE DStJ said: "As Belfast achieves Queen's Green Canopy "Champion City" status, I am delighted that Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee is being recognised in such an enduring way. I must also commend the City's Million Trees initiative which looks to a cleaner, greener, healthier city to be enjoyed by all its citizens."

Dame Mary Peters said: "It is such a privilege, as Northern Ireland's Ambassador for The Queen's Green Canopy, to be invited to attend the planting of a tree, in Belmont Park, to celebrate her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee. The Queen's Green Canopy initiative is to encourage everyone in the UK to plant a tree to celebrate the uniqueness of The Queen having reigned for 70 years and in so doing help our environment. I personally thoroughly enjoy gardening and am delighted to take this opportunity to encourage anyone including our younger generation to take time to plant a tree."

There will be lots of other activities for visitors to enjoy on the day including a tree identification trail, bird identification walk, environmental arts and crafts, habitat box making and an animal rescue station. People will also be encouraged to take home their own tree from a dedicated tree giveaway station.

For more information visit Community celebration of The Queen's Green Canopy "Champion City" status (belfastcity.gov.uk) and for further details on Belfast City Council's One Million Trees initiative visit One Million Trees (belfastcity.gov.uk).

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