Members' Breakfast Briefing with Milly Soames, Action4Youth
Date: 18 Jan 2022
Businesses called upon to ‘Plant a Tree for The Queen’s Jubilee’
Image: from left to right: MKBLP Board Director Elizabeth Sheldon, Milly Soames, Julia Upton MBE, and Chair of MKBLP, Nicholas Mann
Sustainability, greater environmental awareness, and Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee celebrations are set to be the cornerstones of 2022. To mark this, Milton Keynes Business Leaders Partnership’s first event of the year was to highlight a nationwide initiative which will combine all of these elements.
This week, Camilla Soames (Milly) attended an MKBLP breakfast and called upon business leaders to participate in the Queen’s Green Canopy which will see trees planted across the Commonwealth to mark Her Majesty’s reign.
While a key element of the celebrations planned for the Platinum Jubilee, the initiative will also promote the importance of tree planting and how tree conservation is vital to the environment.
Milly, a former Deputy Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, and High Sheriff of the county, is working with a group of figureheads across the county to drive awareness of the initiative and encourage people to get involved: “We want to provide a legacy for future generations, from a single tree to woods, as long as it is planted responsibly and sustainably it is part of this wonderful initiative.”
Milly went on to explain how businesses across the region can get involved: “Any business, no matter how large or small, can get involved. Either by planting trees on their own site or supporting community planting by donating land. Businesses can also order an official plaque to mark the occasion and register their tree planting on an interactive Queen’s Green Canopy map.”
Officially launched at the virtual Chelsea Flower Show in May last year, the planting phase of the Queen’s Green Canopy commenced in October and will run to April this year, with a further planting phase planned in to run in the last quarter of 2022, marking the end of the Jubilee year.
From a sapling to a larger tree, the Queen’s Green Canopy’s extensive network of partners are available to offer advice with nurseries selling the trees for planting. As Milly pointed out: “The Council is 100% behind this initiative and, if you don’t have the space, speak to them.”
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.”
For further details on the initiative visit www.queensgreencanopy.org