By Hidden story behind the People’s Park cherry trees
Later this month, North East Lincolnshire Council are planting a group of new trees in Grimsby’s People’s Park and Weelsby Woods after nine cherry trees had to be removed in May due to damage caused by a fungus.
Many park visitors were upset when the trees were cut down, which were planted to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, but their removal unearthed a family story that dates back almost 70 years.
Grimsby woman Pam Shreeve, 84, who lives near the park, helped plant the cherry trees with the Girls Life Brigade when she was 16 years old.
She met her husband Paul in People’s Park that same year and they still walk around it daily with their dog Gabi.
Their daughter Rachael, who now lives in Cumbria, said: “We used to love walking around the park when the cherry trees were in full bloom. Mum would say, ‘I planted those trees’. It’s always been a family story.”
Rachael contacted ward councillor Debbie Woodward to ask for any leftover pieces of the wood from the cherry trees, which she has turned into six bowls and a cross-section showing the annual growth rings.
Rachael said: “It’s so precious to us and means a lot to the family.”
Her husband Jon added: “You have just made a bowl, on a pole lathe, from wood from a tree your mum planted 68 years ago? That’s quite something.”
The new trees will be planted during a ceremony in October along with more in Weelsby Woods.
More cherry trees will be planted at a later date to replace those that were cut down.
The Smart Energy Greater Lincolnshire project, an £8.5m programme partly funded by European Regional Development Fund, is providing eight of the trees to celebrate the end of their three-and-a-half-year-long carbon-cutting drive for public buildings and area businesses.
Cllr Stewart Swinburn, portfolio holder for Environment and Transport at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “This is such a nice story and I’m pleased our grounds maintenance team could help when the trees had to be taken down.
“We never remove healthy trees and do our utmost to protect and preserve our trees, woodlands and natural habitats.
“Nine trees were removed in the spring and we will be planting 18 replacements this winter in People’s Park and Weelsby Woods.”
Cllr Woodward is having some of the wood made into a bird, with recycled silver cutlery used for its feet and wings.
The bird will be auctioned next year to raise funds for the local residents’ group Park Ward Together that supports activity within Park Ward.
Since Easter weekend, the group has been running a pop-up café in the Bowling Pavilion to donate some of these proceeds to the Council in the hopes of more mature replacement trees.
