An orchard for Palmer Park?

Those nice people at Transition Town Reading asked me to circulate this. It sounds like a really positive project building community, helping create a more sustainable Reading and providing delicious local fruit – let me know if you want to be put in contact with Rich:

Hi there,

I'm writing on behalf of Transition Town Reading which, as you may know, is a Reading-based group devoted to taking practical action locally to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and to build community links. You can find some information about us here...

http://www.transitionreading.org.uk/

One of our projects is to plant fruit and nut trees on public land in the Reading area. We see it as a chance to provide tasty, free, healthy, local, organic food for local residents, while sequestering a little carbon, creating a pleasant atmosphere and promoting local community.

We've got permission in principle from Reading Borough Council to carry out edible tree planting projects at a number of park sites in the area, and we've just met with them to look at the first project - a large area behind the stadium in Palmer Park, where we're looking at putting in a community orchard. I've attached an aerial photo where I've marked the site we're discussing.

The next step is for us to pick the kinds of trees that we'd like to plant and to plan out the space. We thought that this would be a good time to reach out to local groups to get your input and to see if you'd like to help us carry out the project.

If you'd like to have your say as to the design of the site, FYI the council's requirements are that the site is open enough to have good visibility so as to discourage "anti-social behaviour". I know they'd also like design of the orchard to be attractive and to draw people in to that part of the park

Further down the line we could use some help with fundraising and sourcing the trees, bringing the project through the Council's consultation process, and finally planting and maintaining the orchard (not to mention with picking and eating ;oD ).

We think this can be a fun, positive and rewarding project which can help build community in Reading and we were wondering if your organisation and its members would like to be involved?

If so, please let us know and I'll add you to our project mailing list.

Many thanks for your time,

Rich Waring