Last week, Rachael Maskell MP visited the new community orchard in Tang Hall to assist in the planting of ten fruit trees. Rachael Maskell met Margaret Trigg, Community Wildlife Officer at City of York Council and members of Tang Hall Residents Association who have helped to get the project underway. The Conservation Volunteers and Tang Hall Community Centre have also helped with the project. This orchard is the result of people working in the community to transform an overgrown inaccessible green space into a community resource with a rich biodiversity.

The new orchard will act as a magnet for wildlife and in the spring it will attract bees, butterflies and other insects whilst the autumn fruit and diverse habitat will provide food for birds, bats, small mammals and hedgehogs.

Rachael Maskell MP says:
“I am thrilled to be asked to plant a tree in the new community orchard in Tang Hall. It is great to see firsthand the excellent work that the residents association are doing to transform this area of land in partnership with the council, the Conservation Volunteers and the community centre.

“This is a really worthwhile project and it is a pleasure to meet everyone who is involved.  Lots of people have worked really hard on the land over the past twelve months and it great to see the results of this.  I am looking forward to planting my tree and then returning to the community orchard in the future to see it growing.  I hope the orchard will bear a lot of fruit and that everyone in Tang Hall will benefit from this.”