Lord Thurso plants tree at Dunnet Forest by royal approval for Caithness voluntary sector

A special event took place at Dunnet Community Forest (DCF) on Wednesday afternoon when Lord Thurso planted a rowan tree that had come all the way from Buckingham Palace.

The rowan had been part of a huge sculpture made up of 350 British native trees – which was erected outside Buckingham Palace to mark the Queen’s historic Platinum Jubilee – and was gifted to Caithness Voluntary Group (CVG).

In his role as His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant for Caithness, Lord Thurso said: "The Queen's Green Canopy involved the planting of trees all across the country. During the celebration of the Jubilee weekend, when Her Majesty appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, there was the Tree of Trees – a large metal sculpture which had lots of young trees in it that were given out to the counties across the United Kingdom.

"The rowan was given to Caithness and we lord-lieutenants were asked to select a worthy recipient and I and my deputies chose Caithness Voluntary Group as they represent so much of the voluntary sector in Caithness and so much good work that has been done by various organisations. The forest here at Dunnet [DCF] is one of the members and Allan Tait, who runs Caithness Voluntary Group, thought it would be a good idea if the tree was planted here where it is representative of all the other organisations involved."

Lord Thurso said that the tree was conveniently placed next to one planted by King Charles when he visited Caithness last year for the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) initiative which involved planting trees throughout the UK, particularly around schools and in community forests. He gave the tree on behalf of the QGC to Allan Tait who received it on behalf of various Caithness voluntary groups with various representatives from these groups being in attendance at Wednesday afternoon's event.

Allan Tait senior development officer at CVG said the organisation was delighted to receive the special tree and considered it recognition "for the tremendous work carried out by the voluntary sector throughout Caithness".

He added: "Not being experts in the care of rowan trees we were very happy to partner up with the team at Dunnet forest and hope to see the tree flourish there in their care where it can be seen by the many visitors to the community owned forest."

In attendance at the event from CVG were, in addition to Allan, Jan Banks (chairperson), Catherine Patterson (volunteering officer) and Bryan Dods (development officer). Also attending from Dunnet Forest Trust (DFT) were Garance Warburton, forest development officer, and treasurer Shona Scatchard.

Ms Scatchard said DFT decided that the rowan would be best placed beside the birch that the then Prince Charles planted alongside Caithness' contribution to the Queen's Green Canopy. The group retired to the forest's log cabin feature afterwards for a well-earned cuppa and a biscuit.

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