Cherry tree to be planted with local primary school to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2019

Shropshire Council has organised a special week of activities to commemorate annual Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD), Sunday 27 January 2018, for which this year’s national theme is “Torn from Home”. The council is continuing efforts to grow a cherry tree orchard of remembrance with schools across Shropshire, which began with the planting of a tree at Mereside C of E Primary School in the east of Shrewsbury in 2015.

The main focus for 2019 is the involvement of local Jewish author Mrs Natalie Cumming, in the planting of the 2019 tree in an interfaith ceremony with pupils at St Peter’s C of E Primary School in Wem, and in the measuring of the 2015 tree in a ceremony at Mereside. The ceremonies are being held at 9.45am and 11.30am respectively on Friday 25 January 2019.  Mrs Cumming has written a book called ”The Fiddle”, about the family violin, and how her Aunt Rosa survived the Holocaust, along with the violin, playing in the Women’s Orchestra in three concentration camps during the Second World War.

Councillors are supporting the events, and making the links for the children with support that the council gives to Syrian refugee families, and to children who are looked after by the local authority or adopted from care, for whom the theme of special personal possessions or family objects has particular significance. Mr Mark Michaels of the Jewish community and Imam Sohayb Peerbhai of the Muslim community, from the South Shropshire Interfaith Forum, will talk to the children on both occasions, and find out what their schools have been doing on the theme. Special prayers will be read by Carole Marsden, URC Minister and representative of the Shrewsbury Interfaith Forum, at the Mereside ceremony, and by the local vicar at St. Peter’s.

The ceremonies complement a display that is running from Wednesday 23 January in the foyer at Shirehall about the HMD trees that have been planted to date across the county, of which there are now ten, including five planted by secondary schools in 2016. The display is set to feature a slide presentation about the Holocaust and other genocides, accompanied by a piece of music played on Rosa’s violin. This was composed to mark its restoration, which was the subject of a BBC2 Repair Shop programme. The display carries through into Wednesday 30 January, and is open to the public.

Joyce Barrow, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for communities, waste and regulatory services, said:

“This year’s theme of “Torn from Home” is one that fits particularly well with the work that we do as a council to support children and families who are in need, including the Syrian refugee families that we have welcomed to this county, and the children that we look after as a council or for whom we find adoptive families. I am delighted that the council is working with local children in such a moving and fitting way to commemorate the Holocaust and other genocides, and I hope that the planting and measuring of the trees across the county helps them to really think about the positive ways in which they can show care for each other and for the environment in everything that they do.

“I am particularly pleased that Mrs Cumming is helping us to mark the theme this year of “Torn from Home”. I know that the children who hear the story of her family violin are looking forward to sharing with her what they have been doing in their classes about special family objects or personal objects and memories. I am sure that we will all recognise the power of music to help people to survive through terrible circumstances like the Holocaust, and through difficult times that may be faced by any of us.“

The music of the violin will also be played at the ceremonies with the schoolchildren on Friday 25 January. A further ceremony is also due to be arranged with Woodside Academy in Oswestry, where the 2016 tree was planted, after the original date of today (Wed 23 Jan) was postponed due to the icy conditions.  Joyce Barrow, Cabinet member, and Vince Hunt, local Shropshire Councillor for Oswestry West, will support the Woodside event, whilst Pauline Dee and Chris Mellings, local Shropshire Councillors for Wem, will be supporting the event at St. Peter’s.

Further information

The background here is that Shropshire Council is continuing efforts to grow a cherry tree orchard of remembrance across Shropshire, working with primary and secondary schools and inter faith forums and local Shropshire Councillors. We identify a primary school each year, and are seeking to spread the orchard across the county. The orchard had a growth spurt in 2016, when we were also able to provide for five secondary schools to have trees as well, through the Incredible Edible project running that year. Having begun in the centre in 2015, with Mereside C of E School, we have planted in the north at Woodside Academy in Oswestry, in the south at Bishop Hooper School in Ashford Carbonell, and in the centre and west of the county at Trinity CofE in Ford in 2018.  We have turned to the north and east for 2019.

This year, we are linking the HMD theme and the support given in Shropshire to Syrian refugee families making their homes here.

We are fortunate to be aided in this by the inter faith forums and by Mereside as our first school, as well as by a local Jewish author, Natalie Cumming, who has written a book called “The Fiddle”, about her family violin. Her aunt Rosa played the violin in three concentration camps (Mauthausen, Auschwitz and Belsen) and was part of the women’s orchestra in each camp.  The violin was returned to her after being taken away on arriving in Auschwitz.

Violin maker/restorer John Dilworth restored the violin for a BBC programme The Repair Shop.  It has now been donated in perpetuity in memory of her aunt and her father to the Yehudi Menuhin school.  The well-known violinist Chris Garrick composed a piece especially for the programme called Rosa’s Wishing Waltz.

The council works closely with the South Shropshire Inter Faith Forum and the Shrewsbury Inter Faith Forum on this project, having been delighted to benefit from the input of members of both Forums in previous years. Local Shropshire Councillors are involved in the ceremonies, as is Joyce Barrow as Cabinet member.

The display in the foyer at Shirehall runs until Wednesday 30 January 2018. The foyer is passed through by staff, councillors, people from partner organisations and the public, so there is good potential for wide sharing of the 2019 Theme of “Torn from Home”, not least through people talking to each other about it.

Schools who are planning activity have been asked to contact the council, in order that local councillors may lend their support on the day, and in order that a full round up may then be possible to share at national level after the week draws to a close.

For more information about the 2019 theme, please see resources on the HMD Trust website at www.hmd.org.uk

A round up of previous HMD cherry tree planting activity by Shropshire Council is available on the council website at shropshire.gov.uk.