King's Coronation 'Big Help Out'
Monday 8th May saw a very special edition of our regular Monday morning workday: Andover Trees United and the local people of the town took part in the ‘Big Help Out’ for the coronation of King Charles III. The event was sponsored in part by Test Valley Borough Council.
Nearly 70 lovely people came to give their time to help, following the King's suggestion that people use the extra bank holiday to volunteer. The ATU team worked hard to put on a range of activities to celebrate the historic event:
Clearing of the newly planted hedgerow. Weeding, clearing, replacing and straightening spiral guards - all helping to allow the hedge to grow to the best of its potential.
Our wonderful carpenter Ben Startup volunteered his time to continue the Cabin build. He was joined by several other professionals to finish a little bit more of the woodland classroom.
A truly momentous task was the maintenance of the compost toilets! The tank needed replacing and the front loo, which has been out of action for a very long time, needed fixing. Wendy drove all the way to Devon over the weekend to collect a new tank, then on the day Luis, Steve, Abbey, and Ali - helped by Craig from Jewsons with his pallet forklift - managed to take apart the wooden frame, replace the tank, and fix the front loo.
Our lovely new Land-Rover was not looking so new any more! James and his team made her look brand new again by giving her a much needed wash.
Our Ecology Intern, Laura, continued with the 2023 Nature in Harmony data collection with the help of volunteers Patrick and Andrew.
To commemorate the event we decided to create a coronation mural with hand-painted wooden discs. Each person attending painted a disc with wildflowers, native trees, and local animals, which will be displayed on the side of the compost toilets in a coronation mural.
The Deputy Lord-Lieutenant for Hampshire, Lady Louisa Portal, attended in her capacity as representative of the King, to give a lovely address and celebrate the Nature in Harmony Exchange Project youth team by awarding them their 'Queen’s Green Canopy' commemorative coins.
Lady Portal, who is a longtime supporter of Andover Trees United, thanked the team for all the hard work over the years as well as for the ‘Big Help Out’. She also read a letter from Lord-Lieutenant Nigel Atkinson, please read below:
The Deputy Lord-Lieutenant ended her speech with a toast to the new king, which was followed by cake made by Amy.
Andover Trees United would like to say a massive THANK YOU to all that attended the event. It was wonderful to see so many people brave the weather (which in the end was quite kind to us), and to see so many new faces. We hope to see all of you in the future!
