West Berkshire Council Countryside Service were contacted by the Newbury Friends of the Earth group to discuss a project they have been working on which has the aim of marking the current lockdown and the impacts of the C-19 virus. This project is to be known as the Lockdown Wood Project. We have agreed to help promote the project, hence this post.
The Lockdown Wood Project group is encouraging local residents to find tree seedlings in their gardens and allotments while under lockdown (and during the ongoing period when movements outside the home are restricted and discouraged), to put them in pots and look after them in their own gardens. The aim is to grow them on until they are big enough to plant into a new wood which will be called ‘Lockdown Wood’. It will commemorate this hugely difficult period of disruption and sacrifice which has impacted on us all. Local residents will be invited to dedicate a tree to someone who has been particularly affected by this pandemic, maybe a key worker or family member lost to Covid19.
West Berkshire Council will in a small way be supporting this project by providing some land on which these tree saplings can be planted, supplemented by additional planting funded by Friends of the Earth. It is hoped that suitable land can be prepared and planted up this winter with saplings donated or purchased, while the home-grown saplings are still too small to plant out. We also hope that local parishes can also become involved in some way too, perhaps by donating trees, offering funding, or a small patch of land on which to plant trees sourced locally.
Please note that West Berkshire council are not leading on this project, we are simply supporting the aims and objectives. If you are interested in becoming involved providing saplings or promoting the project in your local community, or if you simply want to find out more, then please do make contact with the organisers – Susan Millington at Newbury Friends of the Earth via their Lockdown Wood Facebook page at the following location. They will be delighted to hear from anyone interested in participating in this exciting project:
Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1462905093887423/
Please make sure that any enquiries are made direct with Newbury Friends of the Earth and not West Berkshire Council.
West Berkshire Council Countryside Service