A frosty, but mercifully sunny, Saturday morning finds me having a little battle with myself.
The heating is not working, I can see my own breath in my bedroom and I’m supposed to be getting up out of a warm bed to go outside (where it’s only marginally colder) to plant trees. Why would I do that on a Saturday?
As I stomp in a temper to the nearest tube station I tell myself the ground will be frozen. There’s no point in going. Oh how wrong I was!
I arrive at Northfields Station to meet Danya Bazaraa (the other half of the Ealing reporting team) who I’d signed up to suffer the frost with at Blondin Park, Ealing. We're to take part in the Plant to the Beat event organised by Trees for Cities to coincide with National Tree Week.
When we arrive we soon break out into a snort of laughter, both saying simultaneously, ‘what are we doing?’ The smiles and laughter continue as we’re rapidly swept up in a crowd of enthusiastic tree planting volunteers. In fact, over 250 enthusiastic tree planting volunteers gave up their Saturday, on December 6, three weeks before Christmas, to take part in the mammoth task of planting 10,000 trees. And we were immediately delighted to be part of such an incredible event.
From a stage in the corner of the park, courtesy of Festival Republic, live African drumming, jazz, djs and choirs performed to provide an essential soundtrack to our back breaking work. Digging and dancing has to be one of the best exercise routines I’ve ever done.
Between the two of us (not mentioning the one unfortunate sapling which Danya planted upside down) we planted close to 60 trees. A modest number we were both very proud of. Throughout the day we dug amongst volunteers from all ages, faiths and communities from west London and beyond.
A west London group of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (Amya) took part with over 60 boys and men. Kashif Abroo, 21 from Greenford said: “We wanted to come here to help plant these trees to contribute something to our community. Amya is a very close organisation. We’ve all grown up together in local communities from Southall to Hounslow and so we like to come to events like this to help those areas in which we’ve grown up.”
Sharon Johnson, Chief Executive of Trees for Cities, said: “Over 100 years ago the Victorians planted most of the trees we see today. But, like people, trees get old, stressed and diseased. We must plant trees today to replace them. It is wonderful to see so many people give up a crucial Christmas shopping day to help us reach this incredible target of 10,000 trees.
“Last year we planted a woodland in Northholt and this year we choose Blondin Park as it had the space and the need. This will really transform this park.
"I just want to say a big thank you to all the volunteers who turned up today.”
Friend of Blondin Park, Linda Massey from Ealing said: “We couldn’t believe our luck when Trees for Cities said they wanted to hold the event in our park. I’ve worked in the park since 1999 and it has been fantastic to see how much the area has changed over the years. This a new chapter for the park transforming the site for generations to come. It has been a marvelous team effort.”
Northfields Conservative Councillor David Millican said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for Blondin Park as a whole new woodland area will be created with a diverse selection of trees. We’d discussed this with many local residents and at the public Northfield Ward Forum and everyone was so enthusiastic.
“Trees for Cities have a proud track record of planting trees across the country and this year we were thrilled that their big project was in Blondin Park.
”It’s been hard work but well worth it.”
Fellow Gazette reporter Danya Bazaraa said: “It was such a brilliant day. I have developed a real love for trees recently anyway so it felt good helping to add more into the borough.
“Spirits were positive all around and everyone worked hard to help the cause. I felt proud of my trees and would definitely take part in the event again.”
Trees for Cities worked in partnership with Ealing Council and with support from the Mayor of London, as well as The Big Tree Plant’s partners, including Defra and the Forestry Commission, to create this brand new urban woodland in Ealing for the local community and visitors to enjoy for generations to come.
The exercise from the digging and the satisfaction of planting trees, combined with the music, the sunshine and a free wholesome vegetarian lunch was hands down the healthiest day I’ve had in London.
By the end of the day there was no inner battle. Just a sense of satisfaction that I may just have made a difference, and the image of Danya’s upside down tree of course.
