LOCAL SCHOOLCHILDREN HELP ARTIST CREATE WORK OF ART FOR BICKERSHAW'S NEW COMMUNITY WOODLAND

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LOCAL SCHOOLCHILDREN HELP ARTIST CREATE WORK OF ART FOR BICKERSHAW’S NEW COMMUNITY WOODLAND
Sculpture will commemorate centuries old local craft

Event: Pupils from Bickershaw Primary School, Wigan, will join artist Alexandra James and Forestry Commission rangers to start work on a sculpture at the former Barlow’s Farm site, Bickershaw, Wigan.

Date/Time: Thursday 13 March, 11am

(Please call the Forestry Commission on 01925 859520 or mobile 07810 658136 to confirm exact time)

Venue: Bickershaw Lane, near Rivington Drive, Bickershaw

The artist will also be working on the sculpture on Sunday 16 March, between 12pm – 1pm

Pupils from Bickershaw Primary School are to help create a special work of art for Wigan’s new community woodland at the former Barlow’s Farm site.

The youngsters will join locally renowned artist Alexandra James, from Merseyside, when she starts work on a ‘living willow’ sculpture this Thursday (13 March), which will take more than two weeks to complete.

Local people will also have the opportunity to see the artist at work on Sunday (16 March), between 12pm – 1 pm.

“Willow was grown on two osier plantations here in the nineteenth century and was used by local people for basket weaving so it’s appropriate that willow should be used as a material for the sculpture,” said Dave Baxter, community ranger for the Forestry Commission which is carrying out the transformation work to the former farmland site.”

The local community has already played an important part in the work at Barlow’s Farm, attending consultation meetings last year to discuss how the site should look. Residents and schoolchildren have also worked with Forestry Commission rangers and British Trust for Conservation Volunteers from Wigan to help with planting on the site, which had been left derelict for years.

Funding for the development of Barlow’s Farm community woodland is coming from a Ł9 million grant from the Government’s Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF), part of which is being used to create recreation and conservation facilities across 1,000 hectares of urban fringe land in The Mersey and Red Rose Forests in the north west of England and Thames Chase Forests in the south.

The NWDA is also supporting the scheme by making Ł2.8m available so the partnership can extend its initiative and provide an additional 212 hectares of community woodland in the Mersey Belt.

For more information about Bickershaw Community Woodland, call Andy Glover on 01925 859520, or write to the Forestry Commission, Risley Moss, Ordnance Avenue, Birchwood, Warrington, WA3 6QX.

Press enquiries to Tim Oliver, Forestry Commission project leader, Tel: 01925 859 520 or 07771 806964.

Notes to Editors:

· The Forestry Commission is the Government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain’s forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment.

· For more information about the Forestry Commission and its activities, log on to its web site www.forestry.gov.uk

· Red Rose Forest is Greater Manchester’s Community Forest. It is a partnership of the Countryside Agency, the Forestry Commission and six local authorities including Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council. Red Rose Forest is already transforming and regenerating a large part of Greater Manchester, with 25 million trees across 292 square miles being planted over 40 years.

· The Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) is one of nine regional development agencies established by the government to develop the English regions. Creating new regional park resources is one of the Agency’s priorities. The NWDA supports projects which conserve and enhance biodiversity and expand natural resources, especially in urban areas where environmental quality is limited.

e-mail: tim.oliver@forestry.gsi.gov.uk