A Royal Oak Tree, which has been growing in the garden of a former Ruddington Parish Councillor for a decade, has now taken pride of place on our village green; whilst one of Ruddington’s biggest employers has added a new Hornbeam Tree in its grounds at Ruddington Hall.
These new trees (pictured above) are just the latest additions to ‘The Queen’s Green Canopy’ in Ruddington to celebrate Her Majesty’s seventy years on the throne – with the former being planted by MP for Rushcliffe Ruth Edwards during the ‘Platinum Jubilee Village Market’ today (Saturday 4th June).
Ruth was invited by Ruddington Parish Council (RPC) to do the honours this morning and says she was delighted to accept: “I’m really thrilled to be here today. It’s a great occasion and lovely to see Ruddington so dressed up for The Jubilee. I think it’s wonderful the country has been brought together to do something really good for the environment.” She adds: “The Queen’s served our country brilliantly for seventy years, and I hope that, in seventy years’ time, this oak tree will be enjoyed by the future generations of Ruddington.”
Barbara Breakwell donated the oak for the special planting. “I got this tree on the Diamond Jubilee, so it’s been in my garden for ten years, being nurtured” explains Barbara. “It was a sapling ten years’ ago. Now it’s around four to five feet high and I thought it was appropriate to donate it, because it is actually a Royal Oak tree – from an acorn off one of the Royal estates – though I’m not sure which one!” she admits.
Today’s planting on The Green* follows the recent addition of a tree in the grounds of MHR International’s headquarters in Ruddington. The new hornbeam has been placed among 107 other mature hornbeam trees at historic Ruddington Hall, which all sit in a 19-acre section of the grounds now named the ‘Queen’s Green Canopy Garden’ in honour of the occasion.
John Mills, President and Founder of MHR, who holds a Royal Warrant for Supply of Payroll and HR Systems to Her Majesty The Queen, planted the tree with help from Sir John Peace, the Lord-Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire (both pictured top).
Mr Mills says: “At MHR we are very proud to play a small role in commemorating The Queen’s 70-year long reign and decades of remarkable devotion to a life of service to the nation. ‘The Queen’s Green Canopy’ is a wonderful initiative, and we wanted to create a lasting and physical memory of this special occasion by dedicating a garden to The Queen in the grounds of Ruddington Hall . The planting of the 108th tree will stand proud alongside the many others we’re fortunate to have surrounding us.”
Even before Her Majesty’s request, last year, to create ‘The Queen’s Green Canopy’ to mark her Platinum Jubilee, various Ruddington tree planting initiatives were underway.
As long ago as 2016, Artex on Pasture Lane contributed £5,000 to allow an area about the size of a football pitch to be fenced off, for further woodland to be created for future generations, at Rushcliffe Country Park. Since then Rushcliffe Borough Council has given out free native trees to local residents and organisations on an annual basis, a ‘Green Team’ was established at St Peter’s Junior School to carry out tree planting in its grounds (below left) whilst RPC had already set up a ‘Tree Planting Working Group’ for village open spaces such as Vicarage Lane (below right) and, most recently, new trees at Sellors’ Recreation Ground.
Given increasing concerns about global climate change, and the need to boost biodiversity for future generations of Ruddingtonians to enjoy, these latest tree plantings are certainly a welcome addition to our village landscape. Hopefully, even after the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, there will be many more new trees to follow.
*UPDATE MON 6th JUNE 2022:
For eagle-eyed villagers who’ve noticed Ruddington’s newly ‘planted’ Royal Oak Tree and accompanying plaque on the Green have mysteriously disappeared (like Steve Ennis of WigWag, who kindly took this photo for us) please don’t worry!
Ruddington Parish Council has reassured us that they have not been stolen – but that it has removed them both temporarily. The initial reason was that the hole had been dug too far away from the information stone, making it a ‘trip hazard’. However, with the set-up for this weekend’s Ruddington Beer Festival underway, it was decided to get both tree and plaque out of the way until after the event – to be quietly replanted without ceremony once it’s over.
Just don’t tell Ruth!
THERE’S NOW A FURTHER UPDATE >>HERE<<!
