plant some trees for the jubilee challenge

​The United Reformed Church’s 50th Anniversary falls in the same year as the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.  Her Majesty the Queen has asked people and communities to consider “planting a tree for the Jubilee” if they wish to mark the occasion.

Two truisms come to mind: the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago and the second-best time is now, and it’s an act of ultimate altruism to plant a tree that we won’t see reach maturity.

Given our concern for the environment, the Synod Executive warmly embraced the suggestion of putting out a challenge to each of our churches.  The Queen has asked us to consider planting trees to mark her Jubilee; we would like you to do that same.

Specifically, we are challenging each local church to plant FIFTY trees to mark the URC’s fiftieth jubilee.

This can be done in a wide variety of ways: the church might be set in land where trees can be planted, members might plant trees in their own gardens, or you might approach other landowners for permission to plant trees there.  It would be good to look for other eco- and community groups in your area and work with them in partnership – they may well have access to spaces where you can plant your trees or, if physically planting is beyond your own capacity, they may plant tree which your church could supply.

The Woodland Trust website (https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/) has a lot of information about suitable trees – do try to plant native British trees to help support wildlife – and is a good source for trees for you to buy, or even receive saplings for free.

We know that (at the time of the March 2022 Synod meeting) we are at the end of the tree planting season, so it may be better to make plans for planting from October or November onwards, to save you having to water excessively as your trees are established.
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This is a chance to invest in our planet, support wildlife, build community partnerships and reduce your local carbon footprint.  We commend this initiative to all of our churches.  Plant some trees for the URC’s jubilee.