A SUCCESSFUL two-year project to show children the wonders of the woodland has certainly equipped pupils with strict "green" credentials.

And they hope further cash will be secured to allow the initiative to continue when its present funding runs out in March.

During the past few months, the Barn Countryside Centre at Philips Park, Whitefield, and the Outwood Community Parkland, Radcliffe, has hosted visits by more than 700 schoolchildren.

Organised by the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV), based at the centre, the project has helped children to learn to appreciate and respect all that nature has to offer.

The latest youngsters to visit were drawn from St Thomas's CE Primary School, in Bury.

Laurence Kitchinson, BTCV Centre manager, said: "The children love it when we take them deep into the woods on an exploration.

"For some of them, it will be the first time they have visited a real wood and it is a very special experience for them. "We have been able to show them some great wonders of nature, including an impressive bracket fungus growing on a dying tree, and have emphasised how dangerous they can be and that they should never touch them."

He added: "The main message we tell the children is that woodlands are so important to us and it is up to all of us to look after them."

Throughout the duration of the project, the youngsters have explored life within a stream and hunted for mini-beasts identified from charts and viewed through magnifying jars.

The Mersey Basin Trust has run these sessions and explained to the children how the stream is constantly changing and affected by pollution, both naturally and through man.

Back at the centre, every child has had the opportunity to plant their own tree seed in a special kit which they take back to school to nurture.

Laurence said: "Some school groups have returned their kits full of healthy little trees, which has really impressed us here at the centre.

"Peter, our nursery manager, takes them away and grows them on until they are large enough to plant out at the Outwood Community Parkland as part of the Millennium Wood there."

At the Parkland, the children have been taken on guided tours by Millennium Wood Ranger Andy Suter who has underlined the new developments that benefit wildlife.

The popular environmental project has been supported by the Greening Greater Manchester Landfill Tax Credit Scheme.

And BTCV has just gained two "highly commended" awards for its environmental educational sessions at the Barn Countryside Centre.

The first came from the Greening Greater Manchester Scheme Awards and the second from the Bury Business Environment Association.

Laurence went on: "We really appreciate the acknowledgement that these awards make for all the hard work that is done by BTCV staff and volunteers at the centre.

"We only have to look at the children's faces to see that it is so worthwhile and so important that they be given this opportunity to learn about nature around them, and actively explore 'hands-on' in the woods and streams.

"I hope that BTCV will be given the support from Bury Council to enable us to continue to develop our facilities at the centre."

He concluded: "We have 18 more Bury schools visiting next February and March and then our funds run out. It will be such a shame if this opportunity is lost."