The Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell and his wife Rebecca today invited children from the Archbishop of York Junior School (Bishopthorpe), team members from Brunswick Organic Nursery, HM Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire Jo Ropner, and Carole Green, a community champion, to plant trees in the grounds of Bishopthorpe Palace.

The tree planting is part of the Queen’s Green Canopy, a UK-wide tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee. A digital record of Jubilee planting projects is available online

The 12 trees planted in the grounds of Bishopthorpe are ‘Sorbus Sargentiana’. This is a medium sized tree providing year-round interest. Starting with white flowers in late spring and early summer, these are followed by clusters of red fruit, enjoyed by birds, and it finishes with a spectacular show of orange and red foliage in the autumn.

Garry O'Reagan, Head gardener at Bishopthorpe Palace said: “As custodians of the gardens at Bishopthorpe Palace, we take great pride in their development. Managing the trees in the grounds plays a major part of what we do, not only visually for future generations to enjoy, but also on the enormous impact that this can have on the environment. To celebrate Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, we have today planted together an avenue of twelve trees, which have been sourced from a local nursery, keeping our carbon footprint down”.

Lauren Webb, Director at Brunswick Organic Nursery, Bishopthorpe, a registered charity working with people with learning difficulties, said: “We are thrilled to join in with the Archbishop and others in planting trees to mark the Queen’s Jubilee at Bishopthorpe Palace. Lee has attended Brunswick for many years and he is also employed at the palace and works in the gardens. Whether you’re an individual planting a sapling in your garden, a scout or guiding group planting in the community, or planting an avenue of trees like we have done here today, this initiative is a great way in which to learn more about planting and protecting trees in your local setting.”

This Autumn term, Archbishop of York CE Junior School held a poetry competition based on the theme of trees in response to the Archbishop's visit to school where he shared one of his own poems. Acting Headteacher, Sally Sutton said; “There was such a high standard of writing for the poetry submissions which we sent to the Archbishop and he reported that it was really difficult to select winning entries. However, three winners were chosen: Elsa, Oscar and Kamso and they are delighted to be representing our school and planting a tree for future generations to enjoy.”