Chapter 3: Urban Tree Festival 2020

The Urban Tree Festival is back for a third celebration of our urban trees in London, taking place over an extended period of a whole week from Saturday 16 - Sunday 24 May 2020. We very much hope you will join us

Originally crowd-funded with more than 70 supporters, with matched funding from Trees for Cities, the Urban Tree Festival came to fruition in May 2018 as a clutch of guided walks that led people through London’s urban forest. Twelve months later, with continued support from Trees for Cities and hundreds of hours of voluntary community effort, the 2019 Urban Tree Festival, included a wider range of activities, plus walks that reached the suburban fringes. You could try your hand at drawing or painting trees at an artist’s open studio, learn tai chi beneath trees in a formal Clerkenwell garden, or learn to write about nature on a creative writing ‘walkshop’ in a remnant of ancient woodland.

This coming May, the Urban Tree Festival is growing bigger still, ‘branching’ out to include activities and events for all ages, not only in London, but out in the ‘sticks’ as well. We are hugely excited by the opportunity afforded to us by special education charity Bell House in Dulwich that has offered their house and garden in its entirety for a special finale day on Sunday 24 May. And we’re thrilled that the Festival will open with a family tree day at close by Horniman Museum and Gardens on Saturday 16 May, with a tree trail that will be available for families to discover over 99 trees that link the two venues.

Why celebrate urban trees?

Human beings have had an ancient and intimate relationship with woods and trees for thousands of years: trees provided provide us with material for shelter, fuel for warmth, food for nourishment, medicines, furniture, art and craft, and a lot more besides.

Trees marked the boundaries of parishes; many ancient trees have become venerated and have given rise to myths and legends over the centuries. They are the largest and longest lived of any plant, and indeed of any life form. They fill us with awe and reconnect us with nature and our place within it.

Trees make the urban environment habitable. Imagine a city without trees!

Here are 13 Reasons to celebrate our urban trees

Trees:

• Absorb CO2 and store carbon;

• Absorb elements, such as nitrogen, ozone, ammonia, sulphur dioxide, and filter potentially harmful particulates;

• Produce the essential oxygen we breathe;

• Cool the city by as much as 3-5°C;

• Reduce evaporation and run-off;

• Stabilise soils and reduce erosion;

• Provide habitat & fuel for our fast disappearing insects;

• Reduce stress, anxiety, tension and depression;

• Reduce adrenaline, too much of which can lead to fear and violence;

• Improve concentration & recovery from mental illness;

• Mark the seasons & passage of time;

• Provide inspiration, creativity, landmarks;

• Increase values of where you live by 5-18%;

“Give me a land of boughs in leaf

A land of trees that stand;

Where trees are fallen there is grief;

I love no leafless land.”

(From Easter Hymn verse XIII by AE Housman)

The Committee on Climate Change estimates that 1.5bn trees will need to be planted each year by 2050, equivalent to an area of 30,000 hectares, to reach carbon-neutral; let’s make sure politicians know how much we care about our trees.

If you have an idea for an activity or can help us raise funds or sponsorship, then please do get in touch.