South Millfields maintenance Sunday 30th August 2009 Seven TMs spent the afternoon maintaining South Millfields arboretum. We weeded inside the guards, removed tight tree-ties, re-fixed and straightened loose and damaged guards, crown-raised some trees with damaged or vulnerable lower branches (so that they will now grow to be 'standards') and installed name labels to replace and supplement the original labels - many of which were damaged or absent. One species, a Chestnut-leaved Oak Quercus castaneifolia may grow to a considerable size; despite having been decapitated some years ago, it has recovered remarkably well, so watch that space! More information about Chestnut-leaved Oak on the Kew Gardens website:- http://www.kew.org/plants/trees/chestnutoak.html We have a planting plan of the arboretum and will be producing an online version in due course, to complement those of Millfields Community Orchard. Thanks to Alana, Christine, Eugene, Mike, Pauline, Russell and Tim. Prior to the meeting, two of us met with friends of the late Prue Poulton to discuss possible sites on Hackney Marsh for some memorial trees, which will be planted this Winter. Prue died quite suddenly in July; she was a key figure in Hackney's environmental scene and is much missed. You can read obituaries to her at: Sustainable Hackney. If you visit the website, you'll probably notice some changes in its appearance. If you have any comments, please feel free to send them to me. Thank you. A new programme of events will be formulated soon. We shall also be producing our Hackney Trees Calendar again: this is a major commitment in our year, but gives us wide publicity and (we hope) will generate our basic funds for the coming year. Please support it if you can. We shall be circulating details of suppliers when it has been distributed (probably in late October). Finally, if you're interested in Hackney Marshes, have a look at some skylines taken this August. Mike Tree Musketeers mike@treemusketeers.org.uk The Tree Musketeers are volunteers who plant, protect and help preserve trees in the London Borough of Hackney, and raise awareness of the benefits of trees to the quality of life. For further information about the Tree Musketeers, please visit our webpages at http://www.treemusketeers.org.uk