Events on Sunday 23rd May

Meditation with Trees

Each Slow Morning starts with 10 minutes of meditation. Book once for every morning.

09:00 Daily Festival Meditation with Trees with Mel Sutton. Join us for 9 days and establish a daily meditation practice. The start of the day is a great time for contemplation and self enquiry.

#SundayNatureWorship

9:30 Two ten-minute podcasts of spoken nature-writing recorded in an urban woodland by Amanda Tuke. The recordings cover a range of urban nature topics from her nature-writing blog including finding less familiar spring flowers and mining bees to seeing goldcrests and chatting to curious passers-by.

Susurrate

9:30 Hosted by Abi Wade, in her series ‘Susurrate’ she has created musical sketches based around urban trees. A new musical piece will be published each day of the Festival.

Video Strolls

10:00 A new artists film will be published each day of the Festival. Films about place, people and journeying. For the Urban Tree Festival we have curated a collection of artists’ films that look at trees.

Billy & The Lost Trees

10:00 Join the Drama Geezers online as they create a brand new story through creative play.

The story will come to life as the children go on a journey to save the trees and protect the environment! Suitable for families with children aged 4-8.

Book Club with Ruth Pavey

10:30 Join Ruth Pavey, author of A Wood of One’s Own and her brand new follow-up, Deeper Into the Wood, for a stroll among the trees of Highgate and Hampstead Heath. The walk will start in Highgate village and finish near Kenwood House (full details on booking). If you would like to join Ruth in sketching the trees, bring paper and pencils!

London is a Forest

11:00 Join Paul Wood, author and festival co-producer in this special walk commissioned by Kings Place. On-the-ground event. Paul will lead us around the streets and natural corners of King’s Cross, all within a short distance of Kings Place. Expect to see a diverse range of species.

Urban Tree wiki-thon

11:00 Wikipedia editing has been taking place throughout the duration of the Urban Tree Festival. This event is a “show & tell” for participants to celebrate and share information about the Wikipedia articles that they have worked on during the Wikithon. Led by Lucy Hine on behalf of the British Library

Wild and Ancient Trees of Beckenham Place Park

14:00 A walk around Beckenham Place Park in search of wild trees. Led by Nick Bertrand of Creekside Education Trust.

The Politics of Street Trees

14:00 Panel presentation chaired by Camilla Allen, co-editor of the forthcoming “The Politics of Street Trees”, that draws on the Sheffield street tree campaign. In collaborations with Sheffield Tree Week.

‘Tree Song’ Tree Trail & Performance by Phobe Coco

14:00 (FULLY BOOKED) & 14:45 Hear the acapella ‘Tree Songs’ by musician Phoebe Coco with Tree Voices under the branches of Islington trees both live and in a Tree Trail. The Tree Trail is free to visit but you must book a free ticket for the performance.

Billy & the Lost Trees

14:00 Join the Drama Geezers online as they create a brand new story through creative play.

The story will come to life as the children go on a journey to save the trees and protect the environment! Suitable for families with children aged 4-8.

Tree Rings Webinars: Campaigning for Trees

15:00 Increasing pressure for new housing and infrastructure inevitably impacts on the natural world with trees often being the losing party. Recent years have seen a number of high profile cases that have given rise to often successful community led campaigns. Join us to discuss the role of local campaign groups in protecting trees and how to mount an effective campaign.

The Neighbouring Orchard

15:00 Artist talk with Annie Lord, in association with the Edinburgh Urban Tree Festival. In this talk Annie will discuss the ideas behind the project, the challenges of planting an orchard under lockdown restrictions and the incredible response that the project has received from the local community.

Mulberry Tree Ryhme Time

15:00 & 16:00 Family stories from the garden at Hogarth's House, in Chiswick. Join the team from the Hogarth’s House for this interactive storytelling and rhyme session, based around their 350-year old Mulberry tree. Fun for all the family!

Write About Trees

16:30 Showcase of writers reading their pieces from “Canopy” the Festival’s illustrated anthology of poetry & prose inspired by ‘trees close to you’.Includes the announcement of winners and award of on-line 2022 Urban Tree Festival Poetry & Writer in-residence. Compered by poet and rapper Arji Manuelpillai. Part funded by the Mayor of London.

Games in the Woods Show & Tell Finale

18:00 In association with the British Library. This game jam will run throughout the duration of the Urban Tree Festival. If you have made a game for this jam, please join this show and tell event on Sunday 23rd May, where we will celebrate the fruits of your labours and sample games made by jammers.