PUPILS at an Abergavenny primary school have been growing their own wild flowers - and hearing about the threat to them and their habitat.

Year 5 children at Llantilio Pertholey school were given seeds to grow the flowers by Professor Maurice Rolls and Mrs Jane Thompson who set up the Living Churchyard project at St Teilo’s Church several years ago. Since then pupils at the school have grown flowers each spring which are then planted in the churchyard in the summer months, each plot marked with a plaque commemorating the year.

Mrs Thompson and ecologist Professor Rolls were delighted with the very healthy plants when the children visited the church to plant them, helped by their teacher Tracey Pugh, parent Ruth Griffiths and church member Tony Savagar. Profesor Rolls explained the reasons wild flowers are under threat, together with many other aspects of the natural world and he, Mrs Thompson and Mr Savagar were thanked by the children for their hard work in preparing the ground.

Professor Rolls told the children that in the last 70 years we have lost 97% of our wildflower meadows in Britain, and we must all do what we can to replace them.