Betchworth's Contribution to the Queen’s Green Canopy & Carbon Capture
James Benn
James Benn
Inevitably, Queen Elizabeth’s death and funeral has overshadowed the June celebrations of her amazing 70-year reign. But, across the nations of the United Kingdom, one Platinum Jubilee initiative will grow and grow.
The Queen’s Green Canopy has already created a living legacy with over a million trees planted in Her Majesty’s name across the nation last autumn and winter. With the scheme extended to the end of the current tree planting season in March 2023, many more trees will be added to serve as a lasting tribute to Her Majesty’s extraordinary service to her country and her people.
Goulburn Green has several excellent specimen trees planted to commemorate past Jubilees. But, to the Re-Betchworth team, a single tree seemed both an inadequate marker of the extraordinary event and a missed opportunity. After all, trees are the ultimate carbon capture and storage machines. Like great carbon sinks, woods and forests absorb atmospheric carbon and lock it up for centuries; and we desperately need to reduce that atmospheric carbon. So RE-Betchworth set the ambition to have at least 70 trees planted in gardens across the village by March 2023.
The Parish Council gave us their backing and more, importantly generously financed the provision of £30 vouchers for tree purchases at Knights Garden Centre. The discount Knights also offered meant that villagers could buy a young tree – typically 5-7 years old, 1.5-2m tall and in 15ltr pots – effectively at half-price.
The Queen’s Green Canopy has already created a living legacy with over a million trees planted in Her Majesty’s name across the nation last autumn and winter. With the scheme extended to the end of the current tree planting season in March 2023, many more trees will be added to serve as a lasting tribute to Her Majesty’s extraordinary service to her country and her people.
Goulburn Green has several excellent specimen trees planted to commemorate past Jubilees. But, to the Re-Betchworth team, a single tree seemed both an inadequate marker of the extraordinary event and a missed opportunity. After all, trees are the ultimate carbon capture and storage machines. Like great carbon sinks, woods and forests absorb atmospheric carbon and lock it up for centuries; and we desperately need to reduce that atmospheric carbon. So RE-Betchworth set the ambition to have at least 70 trees planted in gardens across the village by March 2023.
The Parish Council gave us their backing and more, importantly generously financed the provision of £30 vouchers for tree purchases at Knights Garden Centre. The discount Knights also offered meant that villagers could buy a young tree – typically 5-7 years old, 1.5-2m tall and in 15ltr pots – effectively at half-price.
This fantastic opportunity to buy a tree, combined with enthusiastic promotion at the Jubilee events in June by the Re-B team – proved effective, and by early July we had secured the necessary commitments to buy and plant the 70 Trees. Stocks have now arrived at Knights, and with a little more rain the ground will soon be suitably yielding to make planting both a joy and reasonably safe.
We have asked that a photo be taken of each tree when planted and we will upload these, with descriptions, to a digital map on both the Village and RE-Betchworth websites, showing the locations of the 70 Jubilee trees. And we’ll be making a short movie from all the photos to celebrate the achievement. Please send your photos to Norman Jackson [email protected].
Betchworth's Jubillee Trees