Potters Garden, part of the Stair Park Community Garden Centre in Stranraer, has been successfully nominated by the Wigtown Lieutenancy to receive a tree from The Queen’s Green Canopy Tree of Trees sculpture, which was displayed outside Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee weekend earlier this year.
The group received the tree at a special gifting ceremony on Wednesday 16 November.
The Potters Garden was founded in early 2012 when a group of local people identified an opportunity to promote community engagement as a third sector organisation to deliver a garden/training centre specifically for people with learning disabilities. The site at Stair Park has been transformed into 5 working areas, a productive garden (fruit, vegetables & flowers), sensory garden, skills and learning area, workshop & wildlife garden.
Mrs Brewis, Lord-Lieutenant for Wigtown said: “The Queen’s Green Canopy is a very fitting memorial in honour and loving memory of Her Majesty. Everyone can get involved with planting a tree which will branch out and become a beautiful living legacy that will be enjoyed by our children and our grandchildren for many years to come.”
Denys Potter-Smith, Centre Manager for the Stair Park Community Garden Centre in Stranraer, said: “We are proud and honoured, to plant this native British tree (Sorbus Aucuparia Multi-Stem) in Potters Garden to commemorate Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth’s Green Canopy. It will also be a poignant memory of the tireless work & dedication to duty Her Majesty undertook.”
All 350 British native trees that featured in the 21-metre-tall Tree of Trees sculpture, designed by Heatherwick Studio, have been donated across the UK to a variety of community groups and organisations. The sculpture highlighted the importance of trees and nature as well as the success of the first round of QGC tree-planting, which encouraged over a million trees to be planted between October 2021 to March 2022.
