Cecilia Hooley
Forever in our hearts...
Holland Park
Site last published: 01/23/10
Holland Park
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The ceremony was attended by the Mayor, a number of Councillors, many of Cecilia's close work colleagues, and family members. The ceremony began with a spoken tribute to Cecilia by Director for Law and Administration at the Council, Gifty Edila, followed by the tree-planting itself which was led by the Mayor. It was then my turn to shovel some earth and then others followed suit.
The tree that was planted was a Golden Alder which I'm told was not only unique to the park, but to the whole Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Because of the time of year it was very difficult to take a photo of the tree and 'isolate' the picture from the other trees in the park. I'll take a photo in the summer and post it here.
The affix 'incana' means 'white haired'. This relates to the fact that new branches, leafstalks, and the bottom of the leaf are covered with down when young. It is a slow grower and the catkins have a distinctive red tinge. The bark turns orange during the winter.
Introduced to Britain in 1780 it is a tree of mountainous areas, stream-sides and damp areas and is native to the mountain valleys and sub-arctic forests across Europe (down to Central Europe and the Alps), Northern Asia (including the Caucasus) and North America.
After the ceremony we made our way to the Town Hall where we were treated to a sandwich lunch in the Mayor's Parlour.
Following the lunch my brother Nick, brother-in-law Robert, and my Dad went for a few drinks in the Churchill Arms on Kensington Church Street. As real ale drinkers, Cecilia and I were big fans of the Churchill - it's a Fuller's pub and one of the 'classic' real ale pubs of London. On this occasion they had on the gorgeous London Porter and we spent an hour or two downing a few pints.
A great way to end a great day!