Global Tree Planting – from Scotland to Singapore

Almost a year in the planning and after multiple Covid related postponements, the Newnham Singapore Alumnae group finally gathered on Saturday 19 March to plant 5 beautiful indigenous trees, sponsored by eleven members of the group. They teamed up with a local initiative from the national park organisation known as NParks’ One Million Trees, which aims to plant one million trees in Singapore over the course of this decade, so as group member Eleanor Great (NC 1987) says: ‘a fitting partner for the college’s 150th anniversary Global Tree-Planting Project’.

The setting was the beautiful Bishan Park, a lush, green 62 hectare oasis with a meandering river running through it. In total, the group planted five different trees: Shore Laurel, Molly Marsh, Yellow Saraca, Small Leaf Oil Fruit and Yellow Cow Wood. Eleanor continues: ‘The morning sun shone and helped us work up a good sweat as we dug deep and bedded down all 5 of our saplings. Afterwards we recovered with cool fresh watermelon juice and brunch at the nearby Canopy Cafe to make the most of a long awaited face to face catch up with the group. All in all, it was a wonderful morning of meaningful connection, spent enriching our local biodiversity in commemoration of Newnham’s 150 years!’

Near Norwich, Margaret Goose (NC 1964), together with school friends, planted an Oak sapling; also for her elder sister Jean Goose (NC 1957), who could not be present, at St Faith’s Crematorium. The tree will be looked after in perpetuity by the gardeners and will be the site for Jean and Margaret’s ashes in due course. The sapling has been planted within sight of a mature oak tree, planted in 1970 to commemorate their parents.

‘Amazing Autumn Colour and the scent of Candyfloss’

Jo Burch and our Garden Team have been out and about planting again. Jo and Jerome Viard (below) visited Hartford Infant School in Huntingdon and planted a Kasur tree with Class 5.

In the Scottish Highlands, Carol Bailey (NC 1963) paid tribute to the memory of her husband Martin when planting an oak – quercus roba – recently in a beautiful corner near a Lochan called Kinellan, just above Strathpeffer. The ceremony involved a reading of Maya Angelou’s poem ‘When Great Trees Fall’.