Children, teachers & parents from the local nursery and nearby schools planted the first batch of trees and hedges at Southall Recreation Ground on 1st March 2017. The job was then completed by members of the public on 4th March 2017.
A new interpretation board was unveiled by the Mayor of Ealing, Cllr. Dr. Patricia Walker with help from local councillors Kamaljit Dhindsa and Swarn Kang. The Mayor said “I think it will be absolutely superb for children to come and spend time with all this beauty that will be growing up all around them”.
As a result of everyone’s efforts there are now 41 new fruit trees and 50 metres worth of fruiting shrubs at Southall Recreation Ground. Varieties include: Apple, damson, hazel, blackthorne, mirabelle, gage, plum, quince, pear and more.
Our partners in this phase of the project included Ealing Council’s Park Rangers, The Tree Council and Greenfields Nursery School & Children’s Centre . We are also grateful for the support provided by Clifton Primary School and Featherstone High School.
Our funding for this phase was supplied by Near Neighbours. Thanks also to Noon Products/ Kerry Foods for donating to the project.
The Southall Orchard Project gets recognition from the My Playgreen Scheme
The Southall Orchard Project was one of 14 projects across greater London that were selected to receive the ‘My Playgreen’ award for “Creating access to trees and green spaces for children in urban environments”. The award from the King Baudouin Foundation and Timberland includes a £5000 grant to help further the project and was collected by the Project Lead Mani Dhanda and committee member Andre Rungen at a ceremony which took place at the Impact Hub in London on Tuesday 14th March 2017.
From left to right: Aurelie Dumont, Mani Dhanda, Andre Rungen. Photo courtesy of Project Dirt
Aurelie Dumont, Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability Senior Manager at Timberland said “We believe in the power of community groups to turn their neighbourhoods into green. This is why we have chosen to reward small-scale projects and those citizens and local charities that work hard to make a difference in their communities. Local groups often lack the seed money to get started but with small support they can have a huge impact around them.
southalltransition.org 