A ceremony to mark the end of the Queen's Green Canopy project will be held in Wells on Friday March 31st.

The project was initiated in 2021 by the then Prince Charles as part of The Queen's Platinum Jubilee, commemorating his mother's 70 years on the throne. His ambition was for as many trees as possible to be planted across the UK under the banner "Plant a tree for the jubilee" .

Somerset really rose to the challenge – planting almost 40,000 trees and that will have a big impact on the environment. Over a lifetime of 100 years, one tree can absorb about a tonne of CO2. So that's 40,000 tonnes.

There have been more than 230 individual plantings in the county under the Canopy, with several major plantings.

Highlights during the year included a planting in Taunton School attended by a one-year-old helper and the late Jim Booth, a World War 2 D-Day veteran who was 101 at the time.

The then Duchess of Cornwall also planted a tree in Somerset – at Roundhill Primary School in Bath.

To mark the close of the Queen's Green Canopy project, there will be a ceremony at Wells Cathedral on March 31st, the last day of tree planting. At 2pm Somerset's Lord-Lieutenant, Mohammed Saddiq, and his predecessor, Annie Maw CVO, will attend a blessing by Acting Dean Anne Gell of the tree planted last year on behalf of the people of Somerset in the Camery Garden of the Cathedral.

(The media is invited to attend this event)

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Today Mr Saddiq said: "This will be a fitting finale to the Queen's Green Canopy project, which has been brilliantly supported by communities across Somerset – a lasting legacy to our late Queen."