Ken Greenway of the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park writes:
On Saturday 29 April 2017, the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park launch an innovative “Plants and People” trail.
The trail encompasses woodlands and meadows in a very rich natural environment, which won the Royal Horticultural Society’s “Britain in Bloom” National Award for Wildlife and Conservation 2016.
The trail’s theme is the human connections of wild plants. Plants are loved for their own sake and they are a fundamental part of our cultural heritage of language, literature, science, folk-lore and practical use. They provide us with food, drink and herbs; with medicines, dyestuffs and cosmetics; and with material for crafts and industries.
The trail is self-guided, with marker posts, leaflet (PDF 4MB), information boards changing with the seasons, and a smartphone accessible commentary. The trail has been funded by a grant from Santander Bank.
The launch event runs from 11am to 4pm. There will be an “all-day wild food and drink” tasting table in the Soanes Centre, including nettle soup, seasonal wild salad, wild garlic pesto, wild herb flavoured cheeses, wild plant teas, and our own honey.
The trail will be officially launched at 12.30pm.
At 1pm there will be a guided walk along the trail, followed by a wild food foraging walk at 2.30pm.
All are welcome and everything is free, but it will help planning if intending participants register through the Eventbrite website by 24th APRIL. If guided walks are oversubscribed, registered participants will have preference.
In future there will be regular events using the trail. Some are free, some charged, to provide essential revenue for the Friends’ work in the Park. The full programme of events in the Park till early July is available on the Friends’ website. The trail will not only promote public enjoyment and education, but generate vital income to sustain excellence in the Cemetery Park’s services.
