The greening of Vanguard Street SE8

As you will have read in our earlier post (here), twenty one new street trees were planted in Vanguard Street SE8 this spring, and as one of our first mass plantings we thought it was worth a little pomp and celebration, and an opportunity to publicise our new name (Street Trees for Living - STfL) too. 

On Friday 2nd June about thirty local residents gathered with us in the car park on Vanguard Street and shared some food and drink in the sunshine. 

BACK L to R - Sue Morgan: STfl committee member - Rick Farr: Lewisham Council Tree Officer

Sophie McGeevor: Brockley ward councillor - Maya Onyett: Lewisham Council Local Assembly Coordinator - Vicky Foxcroft: Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Lewisham Deptford FRONT L to R - Clare Cowen: Chair, Brockley Society - Xanthe Mosley: Joint Chair, STfL - Dom Eliot: Joint Chair, STfL

New growth in Vanguard Street

As some of you know, the Tree Committee of Brockley Society is now committed to getting more street trees planted much further afield than the immediate conservation area. To this end we are delighted to announce the planting this spring of 21 new trees in Vanguard Street (St Johns/Deptford) made possible by a collaboration of private and public funding, namely, the proceeds from our hugely successful (and hugely enjoyable) Stone House Concert in November 2015 (see here), and Brockley Assembly grants and Greater London Assembly monies (ie. those made available via the powers of the London Assembly and Mayor of London). 

The intention with this ambitious project is to create a green corridor from Broadway Fields to Tanners Hill and Addey and Stanhope School parallel to the heavily congested and extremely polluted A2. 

We are delighted that the all important task of watering our new trees has been taken on by Peabody Estates who are already out and about following some of the unseasonably warm days we have had in the last week or so. 

These trees are a flowering cherry called prunus avium 'Plena', a variety of our native Wild Cherry which will produce profuse hanging clusters of double white flowers when in full bloom. They will be a spectacular and welcome sight in this generally rather stark urban street scene. 

Street Trees for Living

Street Trees for Living is the new name for Brockley Society's street tree campaign. We are delighted to report that the total raised since 2012 looks set to be enough to fund 250 street trees - with about half of these already labelled and planted. In the last year alone it raised £18,000. This was from a Brockley Assembly grant, fundraising events and a fantastic 70% from local residents. 

Flowering cherry in a Lewisham street 

All this has allowed us to bid for a similar amount through a scheme offered two months weeks ago by the office of the new Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. His objective is eventually to increase London’s tree cover by 5% (from 20% to 25%). This would be achieved by supporting local communities, businesses and civil society in improvements to neighbourhoods through tree-planting and associated activities. The present bid would fund 75 additional street trees along the streets of Lewisham, many in Brockley ward. There are strong hopes of success. If all goes well, further bids will be possible. 

This activity was part of Brockley Society’s new Street Trees for Living programme, run in partnership with Lewisham Council. The creation of the programme is marked by exciting new projects for the year ahead. These include continued efforts to raise community awareness with the launch of a schools outreach project. The committee would welcome requests from local schools for information talks to students, as well as their participation in the Street Trees for Living logo competition (details to be issued soon).

Street Trees for Living is currently managing several schemes of multiple planting. These will become apparent within Brockley ward in Foxberry Road and Vanguard Street, as well as across the borough. These successes have often been the result of neighbours coming together to develop a planting scheme for their street. If you'd like to discuss the role of tree co-ordinator for your street, or are interested in helping Street Trees for Living in any way, please contact Dom Eliot on trees@brockleysociety.org.uk 

Street Trees for Living

Brockley Society Tree Committee 

Talking Trees at Number 57

It's late we know, but we didn't want the year to end without mention of a rather understated, but really rather wonderful evening hosted by our friend Mary McGeown, the owner of Number 57 on Loampit Hill. 

On Sunday 30th October, a group of us gathered in the beautiful space shared with L'Oculto Wine & Tapas Bar (who provided us with delicious plates of tapas, and a glass of wine, included in the ticket price) to hear spontaneous, unscripted, real-life 5 minute stories about trees, and the myriad and mysterious ways that they inspire us. 

The occasion was also an opportunity for artist Isobel Kimberly to display a selection of drawings featuring trees, one of which featured on our flier:

The stories ranged from dark encounters with wild beasts in Kentish woods, to the blazingly bright memories of thorn trees from a childhood in South Africa, to wistful and poetic musings on family trees and waxing and waning relationships ... And as if that wasn't enough, the assembled throng helped swell our coffers by nearly £300! 

Our grateful thanks to Mary, the team at L'Oculto, Isobel, and all our contributors; it was a night to remember. 

Mary gets the evening underway

Stanley Silva - our brilliant compere

Ana and Teresa from L'Oculto

"The Loveliest of Trees" - a fundraising concert for street trees

For some time, the Brockley Society’s Tree Committee has been aware of local residents who love trees and want to help, but who don’t have the time to commit.

So we struck upon the idea of staging a classical concert in the historic Stone House on Lewisham Way. This “exceptionally fine late 18th Century Villa”, as the architectural historian Summerson described it, would have been set in open countryside when first built. We are fortunate that the present owner Yvonne Horsfall-Turner generously offered the house for the concert. 

The original inspiration and most of the hard work was taken on by Tree Committee member, Xanthe Mosley. As a result, on Sunday 22nd November, sixty five of us were treated to an immensely successful and enjoyable evening. Besides diligent preparations, Xanthe had coopted various members of her talented family to perform. They were joined by other musician friends of the committee, and in fact, one of the Tree Committee themselves, playing classical oboe! So the spectacular architecture of the house proved the perfect setting for some very impressive chamber music performed for a delighted audience.

Because absolutely everyone involved generously gave their time & effort, over £3,000 was raised that evening exclusively for local street trees. All agreed it to be an event as inspired as the tree conference ‘Trees in the City’, hosted by the Brockley Society in April 2014.

So on behalf of that lucky audience, the entire community and all who love trees, Brockley Society wishes to express its gratitude to Yvonne, Xanthe and her team, and the musicians, for a brilliantly organised and hugely successful evening.

Brockley Society Tree Committee
November, 2015

Image courtesy of Anthony Russell at the Chandos Foundation

Isolde Roxby, Ruby Hughes - sopranos, and James Eastaway - oboe

Our musicians: 

Ruby Hughes - soprano

Isolde Roxby - soprano

James Eastaway - oboe

Andrew and Miranda Harper - violin/viola, piano/cello

Alice Jones - cello

Noah Mosely - piano

Scipio Mosely - classical guitar

Nina Spencer - viola

Hannah Wollacott - classical guitar 

We were very sad that our harpist, Jean Kelly was unable to join us on the night, being delayed overseas, but grateful that our musicians were able to make adjustments to the programme to cover her absence.

Archive: Brockley Society Newsletter article - May 2011

The following article appeared in the Brockley Society Newsletter in MAY 2011. Please note that the current prices for sponsoring a street tree can be found on our blog here.

IT'S A GOOD TIME TO BE A TREE IN BROCKLEY . . .

Thanks to the continuing support of Lewisham's Green Scene and in consultation with residents, four young trees are shortly to be placed on street locations near four separate social housing blocks. And these trees are lucky; motivated residents have volunteered to mind the vulnerable 'youngsters' and water when necessary. Encouraged by this, the Brockley Society aims to see four new arrivals planted each year, to replace those lost. That way we can ensure our neighbourhood maintains its enviable stock of trees, that are not only beautiful but purify the air and protect us and wildlife alike. It's a frightening world for a young tree, with various hazards including neglect, vandalism and careless reversing drivers. Caring residents are coming forward to offer themselves as 'guardians' of all the young trees and hopefully, if enough of you volunteer, we can have every specimen minded by a

compassionate human. Nature may be threatened worldwide but trees are making new friends in Brockley. If you would like to help in however small a capacity, do get in touch. 

While we are constantly searching for sources of funding for more trees, you are also welcome to fund one yourself. For £240, Green Scene, working with the Brockley Society, will provide and plant a tree and ensure it has a watering pipe and protection. They will also provide a replacement in the event of any damage. Alternatively, you might like to consider forming a 'syndicate' with other neighbours. For example, eight residents paying £30 would provide a new tree and the gratitude of generations to come. Maybe you would like to have a tree planted 'in memoriam' for a loved one, with a small plaque inside the fence. It only requires people to like the ideas and just make them happen. Is that The Big Society?

Contact us at: trees@brockleysociety.org.uk

Anthony Russell

Tree Warden

The Brockley Society

Santa's Little Hampers

Anthony braves the cold

Well, not so little - quite a substantial hamper actually! 

This was a wonderful collaboration between our incomparable helpmate Tiffany Childs (who collated our luxury christmas hamper containing £100 worth of seasonal goodies) and your Brockley Society Tree Wardens and Brockley Society helpers. 

The weather held and Saturday 8th December dawned frosty and bright. Tickets fairly flew from our hands and by the end of the day we had raised a magnificent £247 which will be used for a street tree related project in the coming year. 

Staffed from 10 am to 2 pm by a succession of Brockley Society volunteers and your unflagging Tree Wardens we were heartened to talk to many of you about your appreciation of our local trees and your concerns about their maintenance and replacement. There is clearly a lot of interest and good will out there. 

Thank you all for your support and encouragement, and congratulations to Ian whose winning ticket was selected at the end of the day. 

Modern alchemy

Did you know that you could convert that rusting heap in the front drive or garage into a living, breathing, growing tree? 

Trees for Cities (here) is running a completely free scheme that will relieve you of your scrap-value car and transform it into trees with virtually no hassle for you. 

Have a look:

http://scrapcarplanttree.org.uk