Harry Cook, who died suddenly last year, was passionate about improving the local environment for the benefit of local communities, schools and local wildlife. He was an inspirational character who, along with his wife, Pat, and the Forest Road Green Belt Gardeners, created and maintained the award winning Forest Road Green Belt, which is enjoyed by the local community on a daily basis. Harry believed that parks and open spaces, regardless of their size, provided the ideal opportunity to bring people of all ages together to enjoy the outdoors, whilst at the same time creating important habitats for wildlife. Harry’s ambition was to have a story telling seat carved from the dead standing oak on the Greenbelt showcasing the flora and fauna that can be found on the site. The idea for the story telling seat followed extensive consultation and wood carving events on the Greenbelt , whereby the local community voted for an outdoor learning space that brought them closer to nature.

What we'll deliver:

• Create a lasting tribute to local community hero Harry Cook
• Carve a unique story telling chair out of a dead standing Oak tree on the Forest Road Green Belt
• Incorporate designs from the Green Belt into the carving
• Create a bespoke outdoor learning area for local schools and the community
• Design a piece of public artwork that is both functional as well as visually pleasing as a sculpture.
• Enhance a shared community space
• Provide a safe and friendly environment for all ages
• Increase biodiversity by extending flowering seasonality around the perimeter of the site

Why it's a great idea:

The Forest Road Green Belt is a much loved and well used green space within the heart of Loughborough. By carving the story telling chair out of the dead oak, not only would we be making use of the natural materials found on the site, but we would be developing the more open aspect of the Green Belt to encourage even more people to utilise this beautiful space. By creating a safe and friendly environment children and adults can come together to work and learn outdoors. This helps to develop relationships, build skills and give those taking part a sense of well-being which is beneficial to both physical and mental health. In a built-up urban environment it is critically important to provide local communities with access to nature and the tree carving will inspire local school children to become more involved with their environment and the creatures they share it with. We believe the carving will bring a smile to local people on their daily commute as it will be visible from the road

Steps to get it done:

• Consultation with the community and local schools (already undertaken)
• Workshops with the tree carver to engage with the local community and schools for design ideas (already undertaken)
• Carving of the story telling seat by local tree carver
• Installation of a plaque near the tree mentioning Harry Cook and all the backers that have facilitated the project
• Official opening of the carving and dedication (costs being covered by The Forest Road Green Belt Gardeners)
• Biodiversity enrichment through sustainable seasonal plantings (costs being donated in-kind by idverde)