Interfaith gathering at Parkwood’s Forest Garden

Story: Leonie Kapadia

On Saturday May 29th, in Sheffield Environment Weeks, a workday at Parkwood Springs Forest Garden was the third event in the series of Interfaith Tree Planting.

Although it poured all day, volunteers from different faith groups around the city worked alongside Sheffield Homes wardens and the Greenwatch ranger James Smith.

There were the Buddhist group from Burngreave Ashram, Sheffield Pagan community, the Bengali Women’s Group and Hindu community, Sheffield Quaker group, Attercliffe Spiritualist church and Sheffield Methodist Churches, whilst the Sheffield Ba’hai faith group provided a musical interlude to lift the spirits.

Whitecurrants, blackcurrants and hardy kiwis were planted around the site. In the herb-bed, chrysanthemum and lady’s mantle were planted to act as insect attractors, accompanied by creeping comfrey, which has many uses as an organic fertiliser, and red trefoil – a great plant for bees.

Further events will be held at the Forest Garden at harvest time and to do more planting between October and March.

Community Forestry in your Area

There have been some changes in the Community Forestry team. 2 city-wide posts ceased to exist at the end of March and the remaining 3 staff are now spilt across the whole city.

The ‘Delivering for Sheffield’ tree-planting pledge (approximately £50,000 per year) that supported the work of Community Foresters across the city has also come to an end. We aim to continue our role within the community by working with local groups to get external funding such as the Climate Change Fund, to deliver tree planting schemes.

If you are a community group and would like to get involved in tree planting and/or have a potential space in mind that could benefit from a healthier, more attractive outlook, please contact: Leonie Kapadia, Community Forestry Project Development Officer on: 0114 273 4190 or Leonie.Kapadia@sheffield.gov.uk