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. 

Loveliest of trees (2)

Spring has sprung in our streets!

Excited sponsors have begun sending in pictures of their precious charges as they begin to flower and show some green. Here are two ornamental cherry trees (prunus accolade) which were planted only last year - and look how well they are doing! These are only two of the 81 trees planted this winter in Lewisham borough. All are due to fund-raising by residents.

One cherry is in Hawstead Road, Rushey Green, and the other in Tressillian Road, Brockley.

We are aware of over 50 people in and around Hawstead Road who want to see more street trees planted and we are working with them and our friends in the area to make that happen.

Please keep your pictures coming and we will, with great joy, post them here on the blog. And please spread the word as it is hard to think of a better way to spend some pounds!

A New Year, and our new name!

Spring has arrived and it’s the perfect time to officially launch the new name and logo for Brockley Society’s street tree programme.

The programme will now be known as Street Trees for Living. We believe it better reflects the committee’s partnership with Lewisham Council and its objective of planting street trees beyond Brockley.

Last month’s award of £18,000 to the campaign by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, will fund a further 75 trees on our streets and was the final spur for a name change. Under the terms of the grant, the funded trees are particularly for low canopy cover wards such as Whitefoot, Downham, Brockley (north of Lewisham Way), Catford South, Evelyn and New Cross wards. Our old name was no longer a true reflection of the work we do and will do in the future.

Though still under the umbrella of Brockley Society, the new name is an exciting statement as to why these trees are fundamental to our community. At the end of this calendar year, 250 new trees will have been planted in the borough’s streets since 2012.

To go with the new name, we now also have a wonderful logo. Designed by Luke Merryweather of Rago Works in Deptford, we think it works as a simple but clever visual message and we love it! We hope you do too.

A London-based graphic designer & artist who specialises in design for independent businesses, Luke spoke to us about how he created the Street Trees for Living logo.

“I have a folder of scanned leaves on my Mac and zooming in I noticed how much the veins on each leaf look like streets,” he explained. “I then matched this with a section of a map of South London.”

He considered using the shape of a beech leaf instead of the circle but rejected it as too literal. The choice of the shade of green suggests bright, fresh growth. Luke’s design for the Street Trees for Living logo seemed to be just waiting for him to “find” it but some designs take longer than others.

“Usually it's trying to over-complicate things that causes problems,” he explained. “I work designs to a point and then strip the bark back - ha ha.”

Asked which well-known logo particularly clicked for him, he offered that of Penguin books - “I love that logo in all its historic forms”.

Luke can be found via his website: www.ragoworks.com

A Tale of Two Trees ...

Spotted early Saturday morning in at the bottom of Tanners Hill, this maple (acer campestre) was being lovingly tended by a nearby resident. Weeds removed, food given for the coming growing season and some colourful spring companions going in. Well done! It would be wonderful to see as many locals as possible doing the same for their street trees in the next couple of weeks (at least, the more established ones - younger plantings tend to like being free of competition). What a spring we would have in our borough!

At the other end of the spectrum and across the other side of the borough, a very sorry sight at Brockley Cross. Last weekend a car managed to wipe out bollards, signs and, more distressingly, a rowan (sorbus aria) street tree. 

Photo courtesy @BrockleyCentral via @masalawalacafe

It seems this tree location is cursed - the tree under there somewhere is the third tree to have been lost in that location. The first died through drought back in 2012, the second was wantonly destroyed by vandals in 2013 ...

... and now this. Fortunately no-one was hurt in this incident; the driver and occupant reportedly ran away after the crash, but what spell or chant is needed to keep the next replacement rowan safe?!

Doris day

We seem to have been reasonably lucky not to have lost too many trees to storm Doris yesterday, but this large Sycamore did succumb. Adelaide Avenue was closed briefly but the tree was pretty quickly removed by the council's contractors.

As you can see, the heart wood was rotten (see the dark brown staining in the chopped boughs?), and going to look at the stump today, it's clear that the tree was very weakened by disease. 

This is what heavy winds do for us - they clear out weak and diseased trees. Quite often it's impossible to see that the tree is in trouble until it comes down. 

Happily, no one was injured, and no property damaged.

Saw this dust ...!

Anyone know what is happening here? 

Pictured this Wednesday near the corner of Harefield and Breakspears Roads, this maple tree (Acer saccharinum) appears to have been hollowed and then flushed out by the rain, possibly by some sort of borer. 

We welcome any suggestions as to what may have caused this and what it means for the tree. Of course, we are always interested in pictures and reports of other street trees in distress so please let us know.

PS. We're meeting with our Green Scene colleagues next week to look at it more closely. 

Funding confirmed - a further £18K for street trees!

Brockley Society is thrilled to confirm new funding for street trees in Lewisham. The number of plantings will double due to a grant from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as part of his plan to increase London's tree cover by 5%. The grant has been awarded to the partnership between Street Trees for Living (Brockley Society's newly rebranded street tree campaign) and Lewisham Council. It is worth £18,000, and will fund an extra 75 street trees. It is hoped even larger amounts will be available in future years. This week members of the campaign have inspected six low tree-cover wards within the borough to identify those streets which will most benefit from the extra tree plantings. Street Trees for Living is extremely grateful to its partners at the council who put the bid together at the end of last year against an extraordinarily tight deadline.

During street surveys it became clear there is tremendous opportunity to green our streets further by planting trees within front gardens of both houses and flats. Street Trees for Living is proposing a pilot scheme under which owners and tenants can purchase and plant subsidised trees in their front gardens. Particular emphasis will be on those streets where pavement planting of trees is problematic due to space, parking or subterranean pipes and cables. To this end Street Trees for Living is asking for an enthusiastic volunteer to help make this unique idea happen. Please contact Dom at trees@brockleysociety.org.uk if you are interested.

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

India shows us how it's done!

Well, here's an end of year good news story (and my word, do we need more of them!) ...

In Uttar Pradesh, India, activists have planted almost 50 million trees in just 24 hours! We thought this was some sort of crazed exaggeration when we first read it, but no — it happened on July 11 and took 800,000 people. It was part of a pledge the country made at the 2015 climate change summit in Paris to increase its forest cover by 235m acres by 2030. 

The Indian government has put aside £5bn to plant trees all over India to combat air pollution.

For full story, go here. 

Labelling the legacy

During the summer readers may have noticed the appearance of new dark green labels on more than one hundred trees planted in and around Brockley since 2012. 

The labels are one of the Tree Committee’s initiatives to publicise the scheme, delivered in partnership with Lewisham Council. In this era of desperately tight budgets, the council has been a willing partner in an initiative to build on the green legacy of a more affluent time. We enjoy over 10,000 trees on Lewisham streets but according to the council's own records, there are around 2,000 unused pits, and countless potential planting sites. All await trees!

For this winter's planting, we have raised money for dozens of individual trees, and we have agreement in principle for several larger schemes. Please watch this space!

In appreciation of sponsorship so far, and to alert readers to the possibility, the Tree Committee wants to remind readers that all planting is the result of local fundraising efforts and generosity. Brockley is incredibly lucky in this regard, and with your help will continue to be so. Private residents, businesses and local assembly members have all given time and energy and funds to enable the planting. Equally important, the scheme has benefitted from regular and practical help. For every tree, Brockley Society works with a local volunteer willing to water the tree for its first two years.

Tree Committee's work recognised by Forestry Commission

Last Thursday we were very proud winners of one of the annual awards that the Forestry Commission makes ...

•  To celebrate the work of individuals, communities and professionals to protect, improve and expand the capital's tree and woodland cover

• To inspire others to manage their trees and woodland

• To raise the profile of London’s trees / woodlands and the need for management

We were nominated for the Community Tree Award by our friends and colleagues in Lewisham Council's Green Scene department for 'tree projects that have been inspired, driven, and delivered by local community groups'.  

The awards were held at City Hall on the 9th floor known as "London's Living Room", and presented by Sir Harry Studholme, Chair of the Forestry Commission: 

And here we are on the podium: 

Special mention to Dom (our amazingly hard-working Administrator) centre, holding the award certificate, and Anthony and Nicola (below), founding members of Brockley Society Tree Committee. Not pictured is our colleague Rick Farr, Tree Officer representing Green Scene who we managed to lose between the announcement and the photograph on the podium. Sorry Rick!

Full details of the awards and the other successful projects/individuals click the link here.

Tree Committee's work recognised by Forestry Commission

Last Thursday we were very proud winners of one of the annual awards that the Forestry Commission makes ...

•  To celebrate the work of individuals, communities and professionals to protect, improve and expand the capital's tree and woodland cover

• To inspire others to manage their trees and woodland

• To raise the profile of London’s trees / woodlands and the need for management

We were nominated for the Community Tree Award by our friends and colleagues in Lewisham Council's Green Scene department for 'tree projects that have been inspired, driven, and delivered by local community groups'.  

The awards were held at City Hall on the 9th floor known as "London's Living Room", and presented by Sir Harry Studholme, Chair of the Forestry Commission: 

And here we are on the podium: 

Special mention to Dom (our amazingly hard-working Administrator) centre, holding the award certificate, and Anthony and Nicola (below), founding members of Brockley Society Tree Committee. Not pictured is our colleague Rick Farr, Tree Officer representing Green Scene who we managed to lose between the announcement and the photograph on the podium. Sorry Rick!

Full details of the awards and the other successful projects/individuals click the link here.

Where there's a will ...

Some of you will remember the persistent vandalism that was visited on a particular street tree at the Hilly Fields end of Tyrwhitt Road in the spring of 2013 when a newly planted cherry was destroyed not once, but twice (see http://brockleystreettrees.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/vandalism-help-please.html). 

The replacement we planted has now been left to grow unmolested for a few years and this is the happy result: 

This year (2015/16), Brockley Society raised funds for nearly sixty trees in and around Brockley, most of which have now been planted. Send us your own photos!

Hither Green Trees project at the 2016 Hither Green Festival

Our fellow tree enthusiast and collaborator Justin Hannemann, whose own street tree regeneration project is now up and running - see: http://www.hithergreentrees.com/drive-awareness - will be hosting a stall at the 2016 Hither Green Festival on the opening day, Saturday May 14th. 

Come along to hear about the drive to replace lost street trees and to show your support for re-greening the streets of Hither Green - and beyond. 

Justin can be contacted via email at justin (dot) hannemann (at) google (dot) com or via his Twitter account @JustinHannemann . Details about the Hither Green festival can be found on their Facebook page or here on the Hither Green Community website: 

http://ourhithergreen.com/hither-green-festival-2016/

The Breakfast Club (that's not a club)

BrocSoc Tree Committee held the fourth of its "Tree Breakfasts" last weekend, in the Artspace at 57 Loampit Hill by kind offer of the owner Mary McGeown. Wonderful pastries were offered again, donated by Pistachios Café in Hilly Fields. 

These "Tree Breakfasts" are meetings, by invitation only, of those who are able to offer time and energy to help with our aim to increase the numbers of trees, and most especially trees in public space, in Lewisham.

Yes, trees in public space in Lewisham, not just Brockley.

Fifteen people from inside and outside the ward, united by a wish to promote such planting, met once again for inspiration and mutual support, to discuss the efforts of individuals, and to ensure that they are unduplicated and part of a wider plan. 

To date the Tree Committee has concentrated on conservation, building a partnership with council Tree Officers, and private fund-raising. Now, the combined energy and ideas at these new, wider meetings have resulted in ambitious aims to engage with policy-makers in the borough. The hope is to influence council policy, as it affects planning, planting vision, publicity, and of course the sponsorship scheme itself. All this now feels like a realistic prospect. The committee now works with, among others, an arboriculturist, a transport planner, and an IT expert. Its work and its ambitions have now been taken well outside Brockley itself, to include the whole borough. 

Wherever you live, if you have time and energy to join us in what we are doing, or simply want to learn more, please get in touch.

Tree Enthusiast gathering - Spring 2016

Another successful gathering of local (and no so local) residents (old and new) who are interested in what we are doing and getting more street trees planted in the borough. 

The upstairs room at The Talbot was again looking delightful as we discussed our project, our aims and our ambitions, and fielded questions from people who ranged from the complete novice to very much the expert (a very welcome new resident with a wealth of knowledge about tree species). 

We were delighted to welcome Harry Carnegie to the meeting to talk about his project in Catford/Rushey Green and to hear more about the superb map he is making available showing of all public space trees across the entire borough courtesy of a dataset maintained by the Tree Officers at Green Scene. We really do encourage you to go and have a look at Harry's site and map (see the "Lewisham Borough Tree Map" tab above) and see what he has been doing with the data. It's really impressive. 

If you would like to get involved please get in touch using the "Contacts" tab above, or come along to the next Tree Enthusiast Event which will be posted on the blog in due course. 

... and the important stuff - Sunday morning coffee & cake!

Again, our thanks to the staff at The Talbot for their friendly support and to Kara for the delicious cakes she bakes for us.

Community organisation - Basic Tree Care

Earlier this week, Rick Farr, Tree Officer with Lewisham Council's Green Scene gave the first of a series of lessons to members of the local community involved in the care and maintenance of our burgeoning stock of newly planted street trees. 

Rick talking to our volunteers on Hilly Fields

Our trained volunteers are either members of the Brockley Society Tree Committee or interested enthusiasts who will be the first port of call for anyone concerned about Brockley's newly-planted trees.

This is the first in a series of new initiatives that have come out of our regular Breakfast Club meetings and we hope to be letting you know about others in the coming weeks and months. If you are interested in volunteering your services, please do get in touch using the "Contact us" tab above.  

"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.

Green is Good! And we can prove it!!

In case it were needed, here's more evidence from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Journal website that street trees have quantifiable positive effects on our well-being and health. 

The research was done in Canada and correlates data about 530,000 trees with health data relating to 30,000 Toronto residents. Here's just one snippet: 

The results demonstrate that people who live in neighbourhoods with a higher density of trees enjoy greater well-being, even after taking into account their income, age and education.

See here for the link to the RIBA article.