Grandmother’s growing ambition
Inspired by her grandchildren’s climate protests, a woman has collected seeds and grown 500 saplings
TOUCHED BY her grandchildren’s passion as they skipped school for climate protests, Janet Willoner had wondered what she could do to help.
So she foraged for seeds in the country lanes surrounding her Boroughbridge home and secretly fostered some 500 saplings for a new Nidderdale wood.
At nearly 77, the former teacher laughed that she is too old to go on protest marches inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, or to plant trees.
She will grow them instead, in the hope of ensuring a greener future. “If children are going on climate protests in all weathers, and having to make up schoolwork afterwards, surely I can do something,” said Mrs Willoner.
“I thought ‘if I can’t plant trees, I can grow them’. I didn’t quite know what to do though, so I looked it up on the internet and followed the instructions.”
A global movement over climate change was sparked by Thunberg in 2019, with thousands of children in towns and cities nationwide walking out of school to add their voices.
Among them were Mrs Willoner’s four grandchildren, aged 11 to 18. She had watched with pride as they joined protest marches in Sheffield and Edinburgh.
She began collecting seeds, hazel and birch, oak, alder, elder and rowan. Each was carefully planted, in pots or commandeered milk cartons.
Some had to be kept warm in the airing cupboard, others cool in the fridge, or bathed in warm water to break their winter dormancy.
“I didn’t dare tell anyone what I was doing, I thought if they didn’t germinate I would look really silly,” said Mrs Willoner.
“Come March I looked at the pots and lo and behold there were little shoots coming up, pictured .Iwasso excited. Once they started to come up, they all came up. I was so busy in lockdown.”
Mrs Willoner’s saplings have now been donated to make a nature space adjoining ancient woodland in Summerbridge, as part of Make it Wild’s Northern Forest project.
And she has begun again this spring, with seeds foraged last autumn and planted with the help of her eldest granddaughter, to grow a further 500. “It gives me so much pleasure and so much joy,” said Mrs Willoner. “I love growing anything, and I love foraging as well. What I would love to be able to do is inspire other people to do something similar. We need so many trees.”
The saplings will make a wildlife corridor between ancient forests. From now until June, Mrs Willoner is re-potting and watering, and in the autumn she will again forage for seeds.
“I shall never see them mature,” said Mrs Willoner. “That doesn’t matter. It doesn’t have to be my forest, as long as we’ve got more trees. If I do this for 10 years I will have produced probably 5,000 trees, so long as I can keep it up. I will be 87. That will be a good contribution. It’s something everyone can do. And if we do it, there’s a chance it can make a difference.”
If I do this for 10 years I will have produced probably 5,000 trees. Janet Willoner was inspired by her grandchildren’s climate protests.
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THE QUEEN has stressed the importance of staying in touch with family and friends during “testing times” in a message broadcast on television just hours ahead of the Sussexes’ Oprah interview.
Focusing on the global impact of the pandemic, the monarch spoke of using technology that “transcends boundaries or division” and how there has been a “deeper appreciation” of the need to connect to others during the Covid-19 crisis.
She also praised the “selfless dedication to duty” seen across the Commonwealth, particularly on the front line.
Senior royals including the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined forces to appear in yesterday’s special BBC One programme to mark Commonwealth Day, as the bitter fallout from Megxit continued.
The Queen’s audio message celebrated collaboration, but stood in contrast to the troubles facing the royal family.
As Harry and Meghan were due to be seen focusing on their own experiences of life inside the monarchy, the Queen, who is Head of the Commonwealth, used her Commonwealth Day message to highlight the “friendship, spirit of unity and achievements” around the world and the benefits of working together in the fight against the virus.
“The testing times experienced by so many have led to a deeper appreciation of the mutual support and spiritual sustenance we enjoy by being connected to others,” she said.
Buckingham Palace is bracing itself for what Harry and Meghan will say in their controversial two-hour conversation with Oprah Winfrey – which aired last night in the US, while the Duke of Edinburgh remains unwell in hospital.
A senior source told The Sunday Times that the Queen will be increasing her official engagements in the coming days to leave the public in no doubt about “where the focus is.”
The source said the royal family wanted the focus to be on the ongoing response to the pandemic “not news about the circus that is Oprah and all things Sussex”.
In extracts, Meghan has already accused The Firm – as the royal family is sometimes known – of “perpetuating falsehoods” and told how she now felt liberated to make her own choices.
As footage was played of the Queen’s numerous official video calls, the 94-year-old acknowledged that the innovative technology “has been new to some of us”, with conversations and communal gatherings, including Commonwealth meetings, conducted online, enabling people to stay in touch with friends, family, colleagues, and counterparts who they have not been able to meet in person.
She said: “Increasingly, we have found ourselves able to enjoy such communication as it offers an immediacy that transcends boundaries or division, helping any sense of distance to disappear. We have all continued to appreciate the support, breadth of experiences and knowledge that working together brings.”
She praised the “selfless dedication to duty” of medical staff and other key workers.
“Whilst experiences of the last year have been different across the Commonwealth, stirring examples of courage, commitment, and selfless dedication to duty have been demonstrated in every Commonwealth nation and territory, notably by those working on the frontline, who have been delivering health care and other public services in their communities,” she said.
Harry and Meghan were accused
of being disrespectful to the monarch’s own life of duty when their permanent Megxit departure was finalised two weeks ago, with their camp saying, in what was seen as a parting shot: “We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.”
The message, pre-recorded at Windsor, was accompanied by new footage of the Queen filmed last week at the castle, where she has been staying in lockdown.
Stirring examples of courage, commitment, and selfless dedication. The Queen praises people working in health care and public services.