The sun shone down, the hot spiced apple cider was prepared, and an enthusiastic group of people met on the Fifield Recreation Ground to plant trees.
This endeavour had started with a petition, by the Queens Platinum Jubilee Party planners, of Fifield, to Green Fifield (Fifield’s Community Action Group) to take on the Queens Green Canopy portion of the Jubilee festivities. The ‘Canopy’ was a request from her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, to plant trees in order to celebrate her 70 years on the throne. It has now been extended by His Majesty, King Charles III, to “… serve as a lasting tribute to Her Majesty’s extraordinary service to her Country and her people.”
More than a year on from that request we are finally planting the trees! The Green Fifield committee had started the ball rolling with requests to the Fifield Parish Meeting (we are too small for a Parish Council) to agree to make available some money from the precept (a small additional sum added to your Council tax which is used to support extra expenses in the village i.e. mowing the Recreation Ground or our Church Graveyard). With huge thanks to the Parish Meeting, this was voted in. Once voted in by the Parish Meeting this request had to be sent on to the Council for their agreement. By Autumn 2022 it was wonderful to get the final agreement to go ahead and order the trees.
As the wheels of bureaucracy turned we also made an agreement with the International Tree Foundation & Oxfordshire Treescapes project (who were running a garden tree giveaway) to meet any demands that couldn’t be met by parish funding.
At the Fifield Jubilee lunch, in 2022, helpful members of Green Fifield were showing the celebrating villagers what sorts of trees they could get, and families chose from a list of native species which included; Rowan (Mountain Ash), Crab Apple, Hazel, Field Maple and Cherry as options. These [trees] selected to match local, native species whilst offering the most bio diversity possible. The benchmark being that they would be beneficial for the whole eco system, with flowers and fruit, for both bird and insect life. For the giveaway, bare-root immature trees (Whips) would be made available, each along with a planting guide, to Villagers who have a suitable space and would like one.
Also during this time Sam Davies, Chairman of Green Fifield was meeting with James Chapel, who was the representative for Fifield’s Recreation Ground. James and Sam sketched out the best planting positions for some 13 immature trees, 1 Holly (a gift from a local community group in Burford) and three more mature saplings (a Rowan, a Field Maple and an Oak). The oak was going to be planted on the site where an old Ash had been taken down and this was going to be the focal point.
So, we finally made it and on a glorious Sunday, in February, a strong team of young and old set out. An earlier group had cleared the ground ready and the planting commenced. The heaviest work was to box in the 3 saplings using posts and wire netting to make a protective frame around the trees. This was to keep deer and rabbits from grazing on the tender saplings but they also had two, easy to remove, bolts on the front panel so that we could open the front section so as to clear away any intruding briars or ivy in the future. The only other addition was a piece of black piping that was planted into the ground, next to the trees so that when watering the water would make it to the roots.
With the immature trees they just needed a 1.2 meter stake and were covered in a guard (a plastic tube that covers the whole tree). There were no water tubes for these as, being smaller, they are, usually tougher and can survive with less water.
As the work commenced and the soft sound of post hole diggers, spades and wood working could be heard, the only thing left to do was vote in the type of commemorative plaque. Three pictures of beautiful plaques on Bronze, Silver and Gold were put in front of buckets. Everyone from the youngest to the Village Elders placed a walnut to record their choice and, when it was counted, it was found that the majority wanted the Bronze Plaque, which, when it is ready will be placed in front of the Oak to remember this day.
It’s an amazing moment to look at these small little trees and think that the Children playing on the Green, on this beautiful day, would live to see these trees as full grow and perhaps their children’s children will stand at the feet of a mighty oak and wonder at its Majesty.
Unveiling the plaque
On a rather damp day in mid June, Catherine Hitchens (as past Chair of the Parish Meeting) unveiled a plaque to commemorate the tree planting in the Recreation Ground, part of the Queen’s Green Canopy, which took place in early Spring. They are all thriving, thanks in part to the unusually heavy rains but mainly to the team of volunteers who messaged each other regularly to check that the saplings weren’t drying out and that someone was available to help with the watering whenever we’ve had hot spells. Incidentally the plaque, chosen at the time of the planting, was beautifully mounted by Martin Ward.
