Birse Parish residents honour the Queen with platinum-berried Rowan Tree

Residents of Birse parish came together on Potarch Green to commemorate the life and 70 year reign of Queen Elizabeth.
Residents of Birse parish planted a platinum-berried Rowan Tree in memory of The Queen.Residents of Birse parish planted a platinum-berried Rowan Tree in memory of The Queen.
Residents of Birse parish planted a platinum-berried Rowan Tree in memory of The Queen.

Birse and Ballogie Community Council had decided to plant a tree on the Green as part of the nationwide Queen’s Green Canopy initiative, which was initially conceived to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Since the death of the Queen, it has been extended until March 2023 to give people the opportunity to plant trees in her memory.

The tree chosen for planting on Potarch Green on Saturday was Sorbus cashmiriana, a rowan with platinum white berries instead of the common red berries. After enjoying an oatcake with cheese and rowan jelly, the residents present were called to order by a pipe tune played by Andrew Nicol. The tree was planted by Sarah Wright, long-standing Secretary of the Community Council, with many others joining in to assist with shovelling soil, heeling the roots in, and staking the tree. After all that hard work, a community song, ‘The Green Grass Grew All Around’ (which starts with ‘There was a tree, a pretty little tree…’) was sung, accompanied by Dave Bracegirdle on guitar.

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The Queen’s Green Canopy will also be extended beyond this one rowan tree planted on Potarch Green, because many native tree saplings were available to take away, donated by the organising group, including sessile oaks from the Forest of Birse donated by Birse Community Trust.

Thanks are given to the organising group led by Helen Jackson.

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