Tree from the Queen's Platinum Jubilee planted in Welland Park

A tree from the Platinum Jubilee ‘Tree of Trees’ sculpture has been planted in Welland Park in memory of the late Queen.

The rowan sapling was one of five from the sculpture to be planted in Leicestershire.

It was gifted in a special pot embossed with The Queen’s cypher and is planted with a smaller rowan sapling provided by Harborough District Council. The authority plans to grow smaller rowan trees in the pot and then gift them to parish councils across the district every year.

The trees are part of the living legacy in honour of Queen Elizabeth II and joins more than a million trees already planted across the UK as part of The Queen’s Green Canopy - an initiative to plant trees to mark the Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Mike Kapur OBE, said: “I was asked to nominate five deserving recipients for the Tree of Trees and I felt Welland Park was certainly one of them. It is a vital and much-loved part of the local community, and I felt it important that one of HM Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Trees be planted here.”

Harborough District Council chairman Neil Bannister said: “It is an honour to receive this special rowan tree which proudly commemorates Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee and celebrates Her Majesty’s loyal and dedicated service during her 70-year reign.

“Welland Park, which has already won awards for its horticulture and native wildflower areas, is a perfect place to host this gift as the sapling represents a national message of hope, regeneration and optimism.”

The sapling has been planted by the Covid Memorial Tree, just off Welland Park Road.

Rowan, silver birch, and alder trees are among the five trees selected to come to the county. The five trees were among 350 saplings which formed the 69-foot-tall Tree of Trees sculpture in front of Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.

The other recipients chosen to receive the trees are LOROS, Rainbows Hospice, Bradgate Park Trust, and Abbey Park in Leicester.