[Back row, left to right: Deputy Mayoress of Bath Mrs Ruth Malloy, Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset Mr Edward Bayntun-Coward, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset Mr Mohammed Sadeeq, Retired Deputy Lieutenant John Cullum, Professor Marion Harney – Chair City of Bath World Heritage Advisory Board, Hugh Williamson*, Joseph Lavington*, Antonia Johnson*, Jon Smith-Lane Bath APEX hotel, Ian Gadd Chair BRLSI, Andrew Grant Chair Bathscape, Lucy Bartlett* Front Row: Miriam Zaccarelli Bath BID, Fiona Bell*, Roland Russell Bath BID.] (*5/6 of the mighty Bath Urban Treescape team)
It’s one of the oldest trees in the city but – up to now – that iconic London Plane tree in Abbey Green has never officially been given its name.
However, yesterday it had the honour of officially bearing the first of 34 plaques to be added to city trees – thanks to the Bath Urban Treescape Team.
The voluntary group, with the support of the Bathscape Landscape Partnership, has produced a website and a series of urban tree trails throughout the city (https://www.bathurbantreescape.com/)
Nearly 11,000 copies of the tree trail maps have been shared across Bath – and with Bathscape’s generous support – the team have just reprinted a further 8000 – now colour-coded for each trail (see photo).
Coming up in 2024, there are four new trails to be published : one linking Moorlands and Alexandra Parks, one around London Road, one for Alice Park and one at the RUH.
After working with Bath & NE Somerset’s Parks department and other interested parties, identifying plaques have been made for many of the trees on the trails.
The plaques are made to the same standard as Kew Gardens and have been manufactured by Vaughan Hopkins, Bath resident and owner of the Street Nameplate Company.
Fiona Bell – founder member of the Bath Urban Treescape team – kindly sent me some photos as l could not attend the ceremony. The images are courtesy of James Levelle.
Fiona told me: “PS I gave you a credit in my little speech. Bath Newseum’s interview with me, from our launch last July, was seen by local resident and sign maker, Vaughan. He was moved to contact us and kindly donated the 34 plaques we will be fixing to the trees on trails A-D to help with confident tree identification.
Fiona Bell added:
“When we saw that one of the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset’s roles is Chair of a Climate and Nature Partnership group – and that he lives close to Bath – we invited him to perform the ceremony.
We were delighted that Mr Mohammed Saddiq accepted and unveiled the plaque on the first of our Urban Treescape trees.”
Glad you had good weather for the event Fiona!
