Cherry tree planting ceremonies with schools commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day 2017 in Shropshire
Children from Bishop Hooper CofE Primary School in Ashford Carbonell commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday 27 January 2017, in a special cherry tree planting ceremony involving the whole school.
How can life go on?
Local Shropshire Councillor Vivienne Parry helped four of the children to plant the tree, and talked about caring for trees and nature and for each other, whilst Mark Michaels from the Jewish community talked about Jewish child refugees arriving in England on the Kindertransport, and Syrian families being welcomed to Shropshire in the present day.
Local vicar Richard Mutter said a special Shropshire prayer at the end of the ceremony, which concluded an entire school day of cherry tree ceremonies across Shropshire, involving primary and secondary schools, members of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, and local Shropshire Councillors, as efforts continue to grow a cherry tree orchard of remembrance about the Holocaust and other genocides.
Mr Michaels, together with Imam Sohayb Peerbhai from the Muslim community, started off the morning of Holocaust Memorial Day at Woodside Academy in Oswestry, where three local children talked about how the tree they had planted last year was growing, and how they helped to look after it. They then journeyed to Mereside CofE primary school in Shrewsbury, to help light a candle with children there, and see how the tree they planted in 2015 was growing, before the final visit of the day to Bishop Hooper School in the afternoon.
Four cherry trees were also planted in ceremonies on the same day with secondary schools, all sourced by Shropshire Council through the Incredible Edible project for fruit trees that will contribute to a sustainable natural environment.
The trees were planted at the Corbet in Baschurch; at the Belvidere and Priory schools in Shrewsbury; and at the Tuition, Medical and Behaviour Support Services base in Sundorne, also in Shrewsbury. A further tree was planted by Church Stretton School on Monday 30 January, linked to activities supported by the South Shropshire Interfaith Forum, and a visit by a Holocaust survivor.
Secondary schools were asked to use the special Shropshire prayer, with schools also involving their students and local Shropshire Councillors in activities including reflections on the Holocaust and other genocides, and the lighting of candles. At the Corbet, students who had recently been to Krakow in Poland helped to plant their tree, whilst at the Belvidere school, everyone involved (students and adults) put a spade full of soil into the hole to plant their tree, which will grow next to trees planted in memory of former students at the school. At the Priory tree ceremony, Sue Phillips from the Jewish community shared her experiences as the child of two Holocaust survivors, whilst at Sundorne young people from the various locations for the TMBSS came together to share their service of readings and prayers before students planted their tree.
Gwilym Butler, Shropshire Council’s deputy Cabinet member, responsible for equalities, said:
“I am delighted that Shropshire Council’s efforts to grow a cherry tree orchard of remembrance by choosing a primary school each year have also been supported by five secondary schools this year, and that there are now eight very special trees in Shropshire. I must thank my fellow councillors for showing their own support and for sharing their own messages about the importance of acts of kindness to each other, and members of different faith communities in Shropshire for taking part and for so visibly demonstrating that everyone matters in society.
“My hope would be that as we start to grow more trees across Shropshire now and in the years to come, the children themselves as they grow up will continue to care for and look out for the trees and for each other, and remember the messages of the Holocaust and other genocides.
“I must therefore thank and congratulate the children of Bishop Hooper, Mereside and Woodside primary schools, and students of Belvidere, Church Stretton, Corbet, and Priory Schools and those at the Tuition Medical and Behaviour Support Services, for the roles that they have played in helping to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2017 with these very special trees.”
The national theme for 2017 is ”How can life go on?”, and local children and young people were asked to think in particular about Jewish refugee children who arrived in England under the Kindertransport scheme at the start of World War II, and Syrian refugee families settling in Shropshire in the present day. To date, there are thirteen 13 families consisting of 29 adults and 34 children living in Shropshire through the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Programme.
Further information
Further source material on the Holocaust and on the 2017 theme “How can life go on?” is available from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website.
The trees have been sourced from “Tom the Apple Man”, whose nursery is in Weston Rhyn, north of Oswestry, and who is one of the approved suppliers through the Shropshire Incredible Edible project.
The trees are British cherry trees, chosen in recognition of the importance of fruit trees to the Jewish faith and the symbolism of fruit trees in the Muslim and Christian faiths.
Events were supported by Shropshire Council officers as part of their day to day activities, with particular involvement from the community enablement team.
