Steyning awarded a tree from outside Buckingham Palace for the Queen`s Platinum Jubilee

A special ceremony was held in Steyning on Sunday November 27 for the planting of a tree from the Tree of Trees installation designed by Tom Heatherwick outside Buckingham Palace.
The Lord Lieutenant planting the tree with Chairs of Parish Council and Steyning For TreesThe Lord Lieutenant planting the tree with Chairs of Parish Council and Steyning For Trees
The Lord Lieutenant planting the tree with Chairs of Parish Council and Steyning For Trees

The Lord Lieutenant for Sussex, Lady Emma Barnard of Parham House, planted a multi-stemmed birch outside the Steyning Centre. A reception was held in the Steyning Centre afterwards for all those attending, by Steyning Parish Council.

Despite the rain, a very supportive crowd assembled for the ceremony. Lady Emma was welcomed by the Chair of Steyning Parish Council who said that Steyning felt very honoured to have received this award. The trees from the Tree of Trees were being awarded to groups in counties throughout the UK including Sussex. As Jo Gordon, Co-chair of Steyning For Trees, said:" Sussex used to be one of the most wooded counties in the UK; hopefully it will be again."

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It is hoped that this will encourage more tree planting throughout the UK to help with carbon capture and increase bio-diversity. Hopefully other communities will get together to plant a diversity of native trees in and around their towns and villages.

Steyning for Trees has managed to plant 80 trees on verges in Steyning thanks to the WSCC Plant a Tree scheme. This has been enthusiastically supported by residents who donate and water the trees. This not only beautifies the streets, sucks up pollution, but also cools them, helping with rising temperatures in the future.

Steyning for Trees also plants hedges as wildlife corridors through the town. We ask landowners, Football Club, the PC, schools etc. if they want a hedge. We then source the plants, mainly through the Woodland Trust, sometimes free for communities, and our community volunteers plant them. We should have planted 4.000 whips (small 60cm little trees) as 14 wildlife corridor hedges by the end of this year. This makes a great community project.