Dudley Youth Council will be planting saplings in Priory Park as part of the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy.

The project is a unique network of forest conservation initiatives, which involves all 53 countries of the Commonwealth. Groups plant indigenous trees as a way of conserving forest for future generations.

Dudley Youth Council has taken up the initiative and will be planting their trees to raise awareness of youth homelessness, one of the their key causes this year, with Black Country Radio supplying the trees.

They’ll be planting a mixture of indigenous rowan and silver birch.  While they are only very young saplings, they should grow to become sturdy trees which will be there for generations to come.  They’ll be planted in the northern area of the park in the hedgerow border. Amman Ahmed from Dudley Youth Council said:

"Dudley Youth Council has been campaigning and raising awareness about homelessness for two years now and to commemorate the journey we have had with this campaign we are working with Priory Park to plant trees to pledge what we have learnt.

"The idea itself being one of many from Churches Housing Association of Dudley and District (CHADD) who we have closely worked with. We have also recently raised over £700 for CHADD during our sleep-out at the Dudley Canal Trust. With the help from CHADD and the youth council, we applied for the Black Country Radio #TurnTheBlackCountryGreen project.

"We were overwhelmed to see that we had successfully been accepted and have been given many saplings to plant with the idea of a pledge regarding homelessness. We have dispersed the many saplings to various locations, pledging to raise awareness of homelessness. We are very grateful to Priory Park and Black Country Radio who have offered us these opportunities.”

Councillor Sue Ridney, cabinet member for children’s services added:

"The members of Dudley Youth Council are really passionate about the issue of youth homelessness and planting these trees is one way that they are helping to raise awareness around it.

"The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy is about providing green spaces for future generations, and this donation by Black Country Radio shows the youth council’s commitment to support young people today and in the future.”

The tree planting, by members of the youth council, will take place at 3:30pm on Friday 8th March.