Yellow Woods Challenge takes root in Sedgefield schools - 26 April 2005
Youngsters at Ferryhill Station School have won £400 for their school by collecting Yellow Pages directories in a recycling competition.Over the last nine weeks, 3,538 pupils at 14 schools across Sedgefield Borough have taken on the Yellow Woods Challenge - the fun environmental campaign for schools run by Yellow Pages and the Woodland Trust working with Sedgefield Borough Council and the Butterwick Hospice. The schools have collected 6.1 tonnes old Yellow Pages directories for recycling and the directories have been taken to local firm Foreman Recycling Limited.
Ferryhill Station School is celebrating its success in winning the local ‘Gold Oak’ title and the top prize money of £300 for collecting 14 directories per pupil. Dean Road Nursery School receives this year’s ‘Silver Birch’, winning £200, and Stephenson Way Primary School receives the ‘Bronze Beech’ title and £100. Ferryhill Station School also wins £100 cash for collecting the most Yellow Pages directories in total. All participating schools will automatically be entered into the UK Finals, where they could win a top prize of £2,000 cash.
For every pound awarded to schools in prize money, a matching pound is given to the Woodland Trust to support its new ‘Tree For All’ campaign, which aims to help plant 12 million trees over the next five years. Funds donated by Yellow Pages are enabling thousands of schoolchildren across the UK to plant native saplings in their school grounds and to support tree planting and school visits in the Trust’s woodlands.
As additional support for the Tree For All campaign, Yellow Pages is awarding native tree saplings to the top three winning schools and to Aycliffe Village Primary School, Sedgefield Hardwick Primary School and Thornhill Primary School for achieving 4th, 5th and 6th place in the local Yellow Woods Challenge. In return for organising the competition, Sedgefield Borough Council and Butterwick Hospice will also receive tree saplings for planting in the Borough.
Richard Duggleby, Head of External Relations at Yell, the publisher of Yellow Pages directories, said: “We’re delighted with the results of the Yellow Woods Challenge across the Sedgefield Borough and are proud to be helping so many young people understand the importance of caring for the environment and woodland.”
Ruth Clayton, Waste Management Officer at Sedgefield Borough Council, said: “This has been a fantastic competition and I thank everyone who has supported their local school and helped us to protect the environment by preventing thousands of directories from going to landfill.”
For further information about the Tree For All campaign, visit www.treeforall.org.uk/yell
