FOUR conscientious students have added environmental awareness to their curriculum by setting up a fundraising and awareness group. Ellen Ward, Sophie Stokes, Hazel Impey and Tamsin Hunt, all Year 10 pupils at Hitchin Girls School, have founded an organi

FOUR conscientious students have added environmental awareness to their curriculum by setting up a fundraising and awareness group.

Ellen Ward, Sophie Stokes, Hazel Impey and Tamsin Hunt, all Year 10 pupils at Hitchin Girls' School, have founded an organisation called PLANTED - Please Let's Act Now To End Destruction.

The group has local aims such as encouraging recycling as well as more global ambitions which include sponsoring rainforests, a vital part of the earth's ecosystem.

The girls, aged 14 and 15, were inspired to set up their campaign after a visit to their school by environmentalist Phil Williams.

Ellen said: "We'd always been really interested in recycling and we just decided that we would do more.

"By having the group we aim to promote interest in the area in reducing waste and just make everybody interested and make sure they know what happens with carbon emissions, what effect they have on the rainforest and how they can reduce the loss of rainforests."

So far the group has run cake stalls, sold chocolates and home-made T-shirts and organised a sponsored dressing-up day at school to raise funds.

The money they have collected has enabled them to sponsor three acres of rainforest in Ecuador and Colombia.

The dedicated youngsters have also carried out door-to-door tin and can collections in Hitchin, as this is not offered by North Herts District Council.

They are currently aiming to raise £1,000 by the end of April and are organising two fundraising days at school which will hopefully include a raffle, a cake sale and a non-uniform day.

For more information on PLANTED visit www.notreesnoyou.co.uk