Having limbered up last Friday, 18 December, by planting four trees funded by Witham Town Council, three in Bramble Road and one in Forest Road, we returned today, 22 December, to continue our work on the World War1 Memorial Park between Bramble Road and Honeysuckle Way.
This project, funded by Braintree District Council and supported by Witham Town Council, commemorates, not only the men of Witham killed in World War 1, but all those from the town who served in that conflict.
Only four of us were available but we were ably supported once again by Will and Ollie from the Braintree District Council’s contractors, Bee Brook. The smaller numbers in fact made it easier to ensure that we observed the rules on social distancing, as did our decision to separate the tasks, so that three of us focused on digging the holes while the fourth worked with Bee Brook on planting the trees and supporting and caging them. In this way we managed to plant 15 trees – five each of hawthorn, lime and maple. Special mention in dispatches should be made of Mark ‘the digging machine’ Austin, who single-handedly excavated as many holes as his two colleagues (we dug eight holes each but had to fill one in and start again elsewhere when we came across a mysterious and unexpected pipe!).
The project will be completed, hopefully in January 2021, with the planting of the last 15 trees, which are yet to be delivered. There will then be 82 trees, reflecting the number of men whose names are on the town war memorial. It is hoped that notices can then be erected explaining to users and visitors the purpose and nature of the park.
Richard Hawkes
22 December 2020
