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Schools with a ‘growing’ interest in the environment: 08 March 2010; Merseytravel is recruiting “railway children” to brighten up our stations – and increase their awareness of the environment.

The youngsters are being encouraged to grow trees and shrubs from seed, and then plant them in and around the stations to provide an attractive area for local people using the rail network.

Bootle councillor Mark Dowd, Chair of Merseytravel said; “The idea behind the project is to get the children involved in their surroundings; by growing trees and shrubs and then planting them out, we hope to generate an awareness of the importance of caring for the environment and give them a sense of pride in their bus and rail station facilities.”

In a pilot scheme 30 children from Christchurch School, Bootle were provided with Saveaway tickets to travel to the National Wildflower Centre where they had an educational session with Richard Scott from Landlife about seeds, trees and shrubs before collecting and planting various seeds.

Some of the seeds are now big enough to plant out at Bootle Oriel Station, with the remainder due to be planted in April and May.

Chris Murphy, from Merseytravel’s Corporate Partnership Team said, “Christchurch are the first school to become involved in the project, we hope that it is a success and that we can roll the project out across Knowsley, St Helens, Liverpool and Wirral.”

Pictured left to right are Councillor Mark Dowd, children from Christchurch School, Richard Scott and Chris Murphy.; Back to Media Centre