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12 November 2007
The first Inter-Faith woodland is planted in Peterborough
Communities come together to celebrate wildlife and diversity
The Wildlife Trust and Peterborough Inter-Faiths Council, with the support of Peterborough City Council, joined forces to create Peterborough’s first ever Inter-Faith Woodland this November.
Linking in to the BBC’s Breathing Places campaign to ‘Do one thing for Nature’ and Autumnwatch, plus National Tree Week, the event saw a new community woodland planted by the different faith communities in Peterborough.
Chairman of the Inter-Faiths Council, Mr Jaspal Singh, stated: “The Peterborough Inter-Faiths Tree Planting was a celebration event bringing many different kinds of trees together to form a wood, in the same way Peterborough’s many different faiths come together to form our community. For us it is a celebration of diversity living together and creating interest and harmony, and we are delighted to have joined forces with The Wildlife Trust in this way.”
Rachel Price, community wildlife officer for The Wildlife Trust in Peterborough said: “We developed the idea of building on the value of trees for wildlife and for people, and their positive significance in all faiths, following on from the Inter-Faiths Council’s Festival of Faiths and Food, at which representatives of many of the different faith communities talked about what their faith said about caring for the earth."
The wood is being developed on a field belonging to the council and was planted with different trees of high wildlife value including oak, field maple, birch and cherry, thus enhancing Peterborough as a place for people and for wildlife”.
The tree planting, held at at Crighton’s Wood in Peterborough, attracted over 70 people from many different faith communities including Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu, Buddist and Christian. They were joined by The Deputy Mayor Councillor Pat Nash and Mayoress, Trudie Meadows.
If you would like to find out about getting involved with Breathing Places, visit the website at www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces
Peterborough Inter Faith’s Council is a non-political association whose aim is to promote relationships between all the major Faiths in Peterborough. For more information, please visit www.interfaith.org.uk