Writing this in the heat of early August, I have felt blessed today when walking down a couple of tree-lined Seaford roads and moving from glaring heat into the refuge of cool green shade.
Over the next year we plan to extend the tree cover in town to allow for that feeling to be more widely experienced!
Midsummer Celebration
Much gratitude is due to everyone who supported and helped make our celebration and AGM at Midsummer such a wonderful evening. Special thanks to Mamoosh for the delicious food, to the Sutton Downs Community Club for hosting and to Sarah Sinclair for another challenging quiz. Killer question of the evening was “what are the Thankful villages”!
Storms and Strimmers
You may think we have spent the “quiet” season cavorting on beaches and sipping Pimm’s. Well, a bit of that has gone on admittedly, but we remained tree focussed! Some of our members visited to Charleston Festival of the Garden to hear a fascinating talk on trees in a changing climate by Arit Anderson of Gardeners World. We have also been dealing with residents’ concerns about windblown trees and snapped ties and encouraging people to keep their trees watered.
Following strimmer damage to the base of some trees despite guards being in place, useful meetings were held with those concerned. This has resulted in a trial plan for contractors to leave a wider unmown margin of grass around verge trees. Strimmer damage can kill trees or allow infection to enter the wounds, so we are keen to get feedback on this issue and the proposed solution over the coming year.
Big Autumn Planting
The major task, however, has been the planning and networking with all manner of folk to be ready for our big autumn tree planting at the end of November in National Tree Week. East Sussex County Council will be collaborating with ourselves and Balfour Beatty volunteers to plant 120 trees in Seaford under a scheme called the Urban Tree Challenge. Earmarked sites include Crouch Gardens, Cradle Hill School, Stirling Avenue, Kingston Close, Valley Drive, Barn Rise, Beacon Road, Cuckmere Road East, Barcombe Avenue and Findon Close. We would like to thank the residents in those roads who have given their time and enthusiasm in these planning stages. A few other sites are also due to receive fruit trees, in particular Tower House School, to add to the garden improvements made earlier this year Thanks also to the Met Life volunteers who will again be helping there and with other sites.
If you’d like to volunteer this year or have concerns about a street tree in your road please get in touch via email or Facebook.
Email: treesforseaford@gmail.com
Website: treesforseaford.wordpress.com
FB: facebook.com./treesforseaford
