Community Tree Planting

Planting a Fruitful Partnership for the Future

Saturday 27th November 2010 saw the first fruiting of a joint venture between The Farnborough Society and Rushmoor Borough Council when members of the Society and members of RBC staff planted community fruit trees first in Cove Green Recreation Ground then moved on to a second planting at King George V Playing Fields.

The idea came about at the beginning of 2010, when committee members of The Farnborough Society agreed they would approach the Council to suggest that, when further tree planting was planned, edible fruiting varieties could be chosen.  The philosophy behind this is part of the Society’s desire to give something worthwhile to the people of Farnborough since, once the trees are established and bearing fruit, careful harvesting will be available to anybody who would like to take enough for their own use.

This request was eagerly embraced by Rushmoor Borough Council and plans were put in place to plant the trees at the appropriate time of year.  November being thus, great fun was had by adults, children and dogs between 10am and 12noon on a cold and frosty morning when each venue was planted with two Bramley apples, one desert apple, a pear, a plum and a cherry tree.

It is hoped that in years to come Autumn will be a time during which   Farnborough residents will have access to freely foraged fresh fruit and that the Bramley apples will be put to great use, perhaps with blackberries which grow in plenty around the area, to make great pies, crumbles and jams.  Who knows, at some stage The Farnborough Society, in conjunction with the Council, might even initiate a new event – an Autumn competition for a delicious dish made from the aforementioned fruit.  (The Freely Foraged Fruit Fiesta?)   

In this time of financial difficulties it is a pleasure to be able to give something without a price tag to local residents and we can even boast that we thought of it before either specific government cutbacks were announced or the notion of The Big Society was put forward.