UEA honours Grenfell victims and survivors at tree-planting on campus
By: News Archive
The memory of those who lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower disaster will live on at the University of East Anglia (UEA) as members of the Grenfell community came to campus today (Tuesday 10 July) for a tree-planting event.
In March, 25 UEA politics students attended a silent vigil in memory of those who died at the Wall of Truth in Grenfell during a trip to London.
At the vigil the students assisted by cleaning the wall to make the writing on it more visible, clearing the surrounding area and lighting candles for the ceremony.
As a symbol of the enduring memory of those affected by the Grenfell disaster and a way of maintaining a link between the Grenfell community and UEA, organisers arranged with Dr Ben Little, Lecturer in Media and Cultural Politics, to plant a giant redwood (sequoia) tree on UEA campus at the Prospect near Nelson Court. Sequoia can grow as high as 350 feet are an emblematic species of tree as they germinate seeds through fire.
Marcia Robinson is a retired social care practitioner for over 20 years, who has lived in the North Kensington area for her whole life and provided support to those in need in the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell disaster.
She said: “The students were lovely. I think we only had about two volunteers helping to get things ready on that day so we really needed the assistance and it wasn’t just some of them who pitched in, it was all of them coming together.
“It really reminded me of the sense of community that was shown in the immediate aftermath of the fire. UEA and Norwich should be very proud of them.”
Marcia is one of the founding directors of the Just Solutions 123 project, a voluntary organisation which has helped to provide peer support, talking shops and a community kitchen garden in the Grenfell area and beyond since 2014.
The group also organises a tea and coffee refreshment stall at the Wall of Truth in support of the monthly Silent Walk and the vigils, to bring the community together in memory of those affected and to highlight the need for justice and change in all areas of life, but particularly in inner cities.
Part of Just Solutions 123’s campaign is ‘Trees 4 Grenfell’, which arose following a suggestion from their gardening team and aims to plant trees in honour of the victims, survivors, families, fire and rescue services and the surrounding community, with conservation and greening local communities at the heart of what the group do.
They hope that the project will result in further tree plantings across the country but UEA is the first university to be directly involved in the Trees 4 Grenfell project in this way.
Marcia said: “Every tree we plant is a way of displaying our gratitude to people or groups who have shown us empathy or support and a means of commemorating those who lost their lives to be remembered beyond our lifetimes and for future generations in a positive way, with hope that justice and equality grows with each tree.
“I hope that students can meet up or have picnics underneath this tree and that it can support studying and bring a new life and energy to your campus.”
A memorial plaque was also unveiled at the event, which was supported by UEA’s Arts and Humanities Engagement Fund and attended by eight members of the Grenfell community who travelled up from London for the day.
Katie Jones, a third-year politics student at UEA who attended the vigil, said: “Taking part in the silent march and meeting such brave and determined people; seeing a community stay together two years on despite what they have faced, was irreplaceable. Indeed, no amount of theoretical understanding could have shown how vital activism and collective action is.”
Dr Little took the students down to London to attend the vigil, which takes place on the 14th of each month.
He said: “All the students were obviously aware of the tragic events and I know they were struck by the poignancy and significance of the Wall of Truth and took it upon themselves to help.
“We’re really grateful to Marcia and Just Solutions 123 for establishing this link and it’s humbling to think that what we have done today will be a great natural monument on our campus for hundreds of years to come.”
You can find out more about the work that Justice Solutions 123 do on their website and Twitter page, @JustSolution123. You can also find more information on Trees 4 Grenfell, on its website or on twitter @Trees4Grenfell.
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