We arrived got our bibs and picked up our spade and looked for people to put us to work. They told us the correct way to plant a tree:
- find a suitable space and get rid of the grass.
- dig a hole and put in the tree.
- compact the soil but make sure there is no dip, to prevent rot from water logging.
- then put mulch around the tree, 3/4 of a wheelbarrow into a flat donut shape.

It turned out spading mulch into a wheelbarrow was a slow process, too many people needing mulch, I took over, got a good workout from it.

Lunch was provided as a chickpea curry with rice and salad, and refreshments as well. Work continued afterwards and we finished around 3pm

It was a very well organised event with free tea and coffee plus cake and biscuits supplies, always a win win!! We were given gardening gloves and a Spade then shown how to plant the tree saplings. There were a large number of local neighbours and residents who attended the session, as there were hundreds of saplings to be planted. Once planted we covered the ground area with mulch to protect the trees . It was a very worthy cause, and within the next 20 years will combat the noise and pollution from the M11!!

Once everyone arrived, our lean leader led most of the group on a 5 minute high knee workout. A good warm-up for our tree planting activity.

Those of us who didn't have gloves with us picked some up from the nice people of Trees For Cities. Once equipped we dug holes for our saplings to be planted. We were advised that the roots need to be pointed downwards as the roots can be confused.

Once planted, we gathered mulch to be spread around the sapling. After the mulch is spread in a mound, we finished with a job well done.