Birmingham TreePeople

Making a difference, one tree at a time🌳. Today I participated in tree-planting with the Volunteering Team at BCU and Birmingham TreePeople. It was a rewarding experience to roll up my sleeves, connect with nature, and contribute to a greener future. Planting trees goes beyond digging and watering, it creates a lasting change. Trees are vital to our environment - they clean the air, provide habitats and combat climate change. Our small efforts today can have a long-term impact. While this was fairly challenging, working as a team enabled my group to help plant 2 trees at the Zephaniah forest!🌱 Aisha Ihsan #Sustainability #Volunteering #Treeplanting #EnviromentalImpact

Looking forward to tomorrow's seminar where I'll be talking about the need for our urban forestry programs to better engage with residents and communities with Institute of Chartered Foresters and The Chartered Institute of Horticulture. Ill look at my early inspiration from my time training in Canada to my time spent in the USA when I volunteered as a planting manager at Friends of the Urban Forest, my time at Bristol setting up #TreeBristol as well as exploring our current work across the UK with groups such as East Marsh United CREATE STREETS Birmingham TreePeople #SaveOurStreetTreesNorthampton and many more. I'll also be looking at how #TreeEquity is shaping our current work and helping communities understand the need for better tree cover. Sarah Shorley Woodland Dwelling Adam Cormack Caroline Campbell American Forests Kate Sheldon Joseph Coles Deanne Brettle

We planted more trees in Burbury Park yesterday with Volunteering Team at BCU! Benjamin Zephaniah was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University, so it was wonderful to plant trees with the student volunteer network. The team were brilliant, carrying trees across the park (thanks Sam!), digging difficult holes with tough ground, and did so with smiles and perseverance. Caitlin Hayes from Trees for Cities came along to help us, as one of our generous sponsors of this fantastic project, and her expertise and company were thoroughly enjoyed. We were only distracted slightly by the local cats and fungi, scroll through the photos to see Steve's accidental thriller, and some rather photogenic mushies! A brilliant day all around with satisfying hard work. Thank you to everyone who came and got stuck in, especially Matt and Carl for the logistic support. Let's make sure these trees for Benjamin thrive 🌳 Benjamin Zephaniah Family Legacy Group #birmingham #treepeople #trees #urban #urbanforest #urbanforestry #volunteers #volunteering #University #student #students #studentvolunteers #planting #treeplanting #benjaminzephaniah #treesplease

"The story Springer tells of his brother is one of redemption. A young man up to no good, who found a love of Nature and a place for his poetry." It was such a pleasure to talk to Benjamin Zephaniah's brother, David Springer, all about poetry, trees, and Birmingham, and the creation of the Zephaniah Forest. The lovely people at The Resurgence Trust have put my mag piece online (love it when they do that) so now you can have a little read even if you don't have the physical magazine. And in case you wanted to know, Talking Turkeys is forever my favourite Zephaniah poem — it was such a pleasure to see him performing it live. https://lnkd.in/ec6tJpVB

The Zephaniah Forest Benjamin Zephaniah died on 7 December 2023 at the age of 65. Katie Dancey-Downs speaks with the beloved poet’s brother David Springer and learns about the plan to plant a forest in his memory https://lnkd.in/eXKfSncn

Thank you for sending us your poetree! The Trees Please, Poetry Please? competition for The Zephaniah Forest is now CLOSED, but the competition has seen over 100 submissions from budding poets and creatives... As a small charity, we are humbled to have so many people supporting Benjamin Zephaniah's legacy, whether it be through a donation, a poetree submission, or even those who have and will plant trees with us - thank you all! In the run up to Christmas, whilst we continue planting the trees and judging the poems to go with them, here are some fantastic images of the recent snow from our urban forest volunteers: 1 | Winter in Daisy Farm Park, by Stephen Anderson 2 | Handsworth Park holly, by Tonia Clark 3-5 | Snowy Birmingham Botanical Gardens, by Rachel Brackwell 6 | Evidence of the existence of a drip line, by Steve Watson Benjamin Zephaniah Family Legacy Group #birmingham #treepeople #trees #urban #urbantrees #urbanforest #urbanforestry #planting #treeplanting #treetrail #forest #treesplease #benjaminzephaniah #writer #writers #writing #poet #poets #poetry #poetrycompetition #competition #closed #poems #poets #sixtyfiveyears #nature #winter #plantingseason #winterseason #winterplanting #poetree

It’s the last day of Tree Week and the last day of the poetry competition! Last weekend we started planting The Zephaniah Forest in Burbury Park, with Qian Zephaniah planting the first tree for her husband, and Ebony Hikers CIC joined us on the second day to celebrate the life and legacy of this iconic Brummie. Make sure you scroll to the end for the best photos! Despite Storm Burt being forewarned, he once again didn’t stop us from getting trees in the ground, and this incredible group of volunteers stuck into tree planting semi-mature trees like they had done it all their lives. We were also joined by Naya, one of our urban forest volunteers and PhD student at University of Birmingham. Thank you to Penny and Steve from the Park Rangers who helped us, as well as the Ebony Hikers for joining us and having a magnificent afternoon. The Trees Please, Poetry Please? competition will see 65 poems paired with the 65 trees we are planting, with the Benjamin Zephaniah Family Legacy Group, in commemoration of Benjamin Zephaniah and to give back to the community he once lived amongst. Competition ends TONIGHT, MIDNIGHT, and entrants can submit 3 poems via the website or by emailing info@birminghamtreepeople.org.uk https://lnkd.in/eT2-zAPR Thank you to all who have been a part of this project so far, to our funders and sponsors, to the poets and planters, and of course to Benjamin’s family. HAPPY NATIONAL TREE WEEK! #birmingham #treepeople #urban #trees #urbantrees #urbanforest #urbanforestry #legacyforest #forest #zephaniahforest #benjaminzephaniah #qianzephaniah #Zephaniah #poetry #poetrycompetition #poetree #planting #treeplanting #sixtyfivetrees #sixtyfive #treeplotter #treetrail #treeweek #nationaltreeweek

A really early start today as I was talking on the Today Programme about the Trees of Hope project. I had such a small amount of time but there's so much I could say about this project. Examples of applications ranged from a tree to celebrate twenty-five years of LGBTQ+ representation in the Ministry of Defence to a desire for tree of pilgrimage planted in eleventh century Aylesford Priory for the Goan Welfare Society. There were so many fascinating and often heart rending stories that all deserve to be heard. It's great to have a reminder that human beings from across the UK can be capable of such kindness to each other and hope for the future. I would love to follow these trees into maturity and the stories behind them, as the link between trees and the way that people feel about them could not be better illustrated. #nationaltreeweek #sycamoregap National Trust

🌳 Excited to Launch the Urban Forest Tools! 🌳 I’m proud to have been part of the Urban Forest Accelerator project, where The Woodland Trust worked with organisations like National Trust, Birmingham TreePeople and many others to take action and create tools to help make our urban forests healthier, more equitable, and accessible for all and am super excited to get to share that work with you in just a couple of weeks! 📅 Join us on 9 December, 13:00-16:00 for the Urban Forests for All webinar, where we’ll share tools and insights developed over the past two years. Highlights include: 🌱 Launch of the Community Guide to Tree Planting and a Tree Planting Calculator. 🌱 How we piloted the Tree Equity Score in Birmingham to prioritise tree planting in under-served communities. 🌱 Practical advice on designing, funding, and maintaining equitable urban forests. 🌱 Keynote speaker from the incredible Cecil Konijnendijk whose 3+30+300 approach to urban forestry has been invaluable in our work, and wider tree equity efforts This is an incredible opportunity to learn how we can collectively create sustainable, inclusive spaces for every community. 🎟️ Secure your free spot here: https://lnkd.in/em59gPnb #UrbanForests #TreeEquity #CommunityEngagement #Sustainability Simon Needle Anne Jaluzot Adam Cormack Beth Collier Emily Cooke David Coughlin