Covid memorial woodland to be planted by volunteers in Newport

Many have lost loved ones during the Covid pandemic, or struggled in other ways as the country faced many difficulties.

Town and borough councillor for Newport, Peter Scott, wanted to create a place of refuge and quiet to form a Covid memorial for the people of Newport.

After a successful appeal for volunteers, work on the town's Queen Elizabeth II Covid Memorial Woodland is set to go ahead early next month.

Planting will begin on Tuesday, February 8 at Strine Park and then on land off Ford Road – if anyone else wants to volunteer to help, they are welcome to get in touch with Councillor Scott.

"A lot of people have lost loved ones or just had difficult times themselves during the past two years," he said. "At some point soon, we will put a bench in the woodland because we wanted it to be somewhere people could go and reflect quietly over people they have lost or just actually reflect on the way Covid affected all our lives.

"I would like it to be thought of as somewhere positive. I've had a universally positive response to it and I hope people will appreciate it when they need it."

Funding for the project comes from Councillor Scott's own Telford & Wrekin Council Pride Fund – an amount of money allocated to each councillor every year to spend on local projects.

Money was also donated by local institutions, Waitrose and The Shakespeare Inn, to help forward the project.

"We received a £500 donation from Waitrose towards the project, and £500 from the Shakespeare Inn's Dalbag Singh Memorial Match Fund," Peter explained.

"Raja Singh, landlord, and the team at the Shakespeare Inn raised money for Dalbag Singh with a charity rugby match after he died of Covid.

"So them donating money to the project is really lovely. They wanted to see the memorial go ahead to also help remember their dad."

Altogether there will be 67 trees planting in February to begin the woodland, and wildflower seeds will also be sown some weeks later.

This also forms part of a wider project Councillor Scott started called the Newport Tree Project, in which his aim is to plant 1,000 trees in five years to replace some of the trees lost to development in the town.

Planting begins at 9.30am in Strine Park on Tuesday, February 8. Contact peter.scott@telford.gov.uk.