Remembering Those Who are Dear to Us

How might we remember those people who were dear to us?

Woodland trustees are sometimes asked if it would be possible to plant a tree in the woodland in memory of someone who has died. Often, the death has been a real tragedy and the life cut short was one full of promise. We are all diminished by such events – and the deceased people certainly do deserve to be remembered.

However, in the woodland, this presents a really serious problem – because of the way that the woodland has come about, we now have far too many trees. The initial landscaping planting was done on the basis that two-thirds of the trees would be removed, to leave sufficient room for the remainder to grow healthily. This was not done. Then, because the woodland "appeared" to have huge spaces during its early years, more planting went on than was sustainable. The outcome is a woodland with far too many trees, all of which are fighting for light. Trustees have made the difficult decision that no tree planting will be done unless existing trees can first be removed to make space.

That does alter the way we try to solve the problem of how we remember our departed friends. Do you have any thoughts on what would be a good way of doing this? Putting in a wooden bench for each person is a nice idea but would it result in there being dozens of benches lined up along the path? Ought we perhaps to construct from railway sleepers a wooden "memory" wall, to which brass plaques can be screwed? Perhaps we might attach to the sign describing a person's favourite flower, tree or bird, a small, brass, "in memoriam" plaque? Are any of these good ideas? If they are not, then what would be the best way for us to use the woodland to remember our dear departed?

The woodland trustees really DO need help here. Would you please pass your ideas to me and I will ensure that the Trustees are made aware of them before decisions are made? Please email your ideas to me: charlestbradley@btinternet.com, and I will pass them on in order to inform the Trustees decision, once the decision point is reached. All help would be really useful. Please do some thinking and let me know the outcome.

Ed:  Love the railway sleeper idea... 
I'm sure the residents of Tarvin could come up with some other great ideas.