SEED SUCCESS BRINGS GLOBAL BRANCH-OUT

HERALD EXPRESS November 8 1994
SEED SUCCESS BRINGS GLOBAL BRANCH-OUT
Oak trees will be lining a Churston road thanks to the planting of 4,000 acorns and saplings by local volunteers. The mass planting along the four mile length of Kennals Road was the idea of ‘A Pocket Full Of Acorns’ organiser, Andrew Fletcher.
But he was disappointed that no representatives of the environmental groups he invited turned up. Mr Fletcher set up A Pocket Full Of Acorns ten weeks ago after hearing the story of the old French shepherd.
Each day the shepherd attended his flock, he carried with him a pocket full of acorns, planting them across the mountain side as he went. From this daily exercise a mighty forest grew. Mr Fletcher said: “It’s such a simple way of giving nature a hand. There is nothing cheaper than collecting a pocket full of seeds and planting them.”
His plan to plant out Kennals Road with local oaks had the backing of Torbay Borough Council. But invited conservation group representatives failed to appear.
Planting success
“All they had to do was to come along, poke a few holes in the ground with a stick and then drop an acorn in,” He said. Nevertheless buoyed by the planting success and an earlier one at Tebbit Copse on Telegraph Hill, Mr Fletcher is taking his green message around The Globe.
Mr Fletcher said: “With the destruction of the forests in the Third World and the increasing distances that people, mostly women, must walk to collect water and fire wood for cooking and warmth, it would be so easy to pick a handful of tree seeds and plant them on the way back to their villages.”
Recent meetings with representatives from the Pakistan and Saudi Arabian Embassies were very favourably received, he said.