Birmingham Trees for Life plants trees in Sheldon Country Park supported by Birmingham Airport

Birmingham Airport has given support to charity, Birmingham Trees for Life - BTFL -
by funding tree planting to help enhance the environment in the local area

Birmingham Trees for Life is a registered charity, a Partnership between Birmingham
Civic Society and Birmingham City Council, and spreads awareness and understanding
of the value and importance of trees. Its members raise money to enable more trees
to be planted and actively encourage the involvement of communities in planting. Since
2006 over 50,000 trees across the city have been planted by the charity

Last week it was Sheldon Country Park which was selected due to its proximity to
Birmingham Airport. Green fingered members of BTFL were joined by local councillors,
park rangers, airport representatives and school children from nearby Stanville Primary
School and Perry Beeches Academy, to begin a morning of digging and planting. In
total 10 standard trees and 1,000 smaller whips were planted

Andy Holding, Corporate Responsibility Manager at Birmingham Airport, said: "The trustees
decided to award Birmingham Trees for Life with this funding as the work they do doesn’t
just bring enormous environmental benefits but also brings together local community groups
to help increase awareness of the importance of trees in urban environments

Deborah Needle, a Development Officer at BTFL, said: "We are very pleased to have the
airport on board as a corporate sponsor. The trees we have planted from their funding
will make a huge difference to the environment surrounding the airport and greatly
improve this local parkland for future generations"

Councillor Mike Ward, from the Sheldon Ward and Chair of the Trustees at Birmingham
Airport, said "It’s vitally important that we get young people connected with their
environment, and this project is a great way of doing that. We hope that by getting the
children involved in the planting of trees they will treasure them forever. We are also
delighted to see the Airport working alongside local communities"

The funding awarded to BTFL, forms part of the Birmingham Airport Community Trust
Fund which awards grants of up to £3,000 to community groups in areas most affected
by the Airport’s operations. Each year Birmingham Airport contributes £75,000 to the
Community Trust Fund.  Additionally any charges made to airlines which breach night
noise regulations, are added to the fund

The next available round of Trust Fund awards will be made in April 2017. The closing
date for receipt of completed applications is Friday 24 February 2017. More information
is available on the Birmingham Airport www site here

Monday 30 January 2017