His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire Elizabeth Fothergill CBE, county council Civic Chairman Councillor David Wilson (left) and council leader Councillor Barry Lewis, at the tree planting ceremony.
The tree is 1 of 2 given to us recently by the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) – a national tree-planting scheme launched by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee last year.
The hazel tree was planted at a ceremony at County Hall today (Tuesday 7 March) by His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire Elizabeth Fothergill CBE, county council Civic Chairman Councillor David Wilson and council leader Councillor Barry Lewis.
The second tree to be given to the council by the QGC is a cherry and will be planted later this month at Elvaston Castle.
District and borough councils and Derby City Council are also receiving trees from the QGC to plant on sites in their areas.
Derbyshire has already received 6 trees from the QGC, secured for the county by the Derbyshire Lieutenancy. Those 6 trees formed part of the iconic Tree of Trees that stood outside Buckingham Palace at the height of the Jubilee celebrations, and were planted at a ceremony last October at the council-run Shipley Country Park.
Councillor Barry Lewis said:
“We are exceptionally proud of our involvement in the Queen’s Green Canopy project and continue to fully support the innovative scheme which is creating a wonderful legacy to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth across our county and beyond.
“Trees are a vital part of our environment for so many reasons. As well as being important for biodiversity they play a key part in our journey to becoming a net zero county, and we are committed to our target of supporting the planting of one million trees across Derbyshire by 2030.
“In the first planting season of 2021/22 we planted 600 trees countywide and around 20,000 more will be planted during the current planting season.
“We’d like to thank the Queen’s Green Canopy for the trees they have given us and will ensure they grow and thrive in Derbyshire.”
Councillor David Wilson said:
“We are grateful to His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire Elizabeth Fothergill CBE for coming to County Hall to plant our hazel tree, and our highly collaborative relationship with the Derbyshire Lieutenancy has been extremely important when developing Queen’s Green Canopy planting projects, alongside district, borough and city council colleagues.”
HM Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire Elizabeth Fothergill CBE said:
“I would like to express my thanks to Councillor Barry Lewis and his officers who enabled and supported the planting of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Coppice at Shipley County Park last year, a truly wonderful event and a lasting memorial to our late Queen. The CEO of the Queen’s Green Canopy was impressed with Derbyshire’s contribution which resulted in 28 mature trees being gifted to the county, with this hazel tree being one of those, and I’m aware that Councillor Lewis has been invited to contribute to the Queen’s Green Canopy national report to be presented to HM The King at the conclusion of the QGC project. Such engagement raises the profile of Derbyshire brilliantly.”