News

Dear All,

We hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to a prosperous New Year!

We would like to take this opportunity to remind anyone who has left Christmas items on and around memorial trees and benches that we will be removing them from Monday 5th January 2015.

If you wish to keep any items please remove them before this date so as not to cause any upset.

Best Wishes,

Life for a Life

On the 13th July 2014 Life for Life memorial forests was pleased to unveil with the help of local dignitaries a bench and tree to celebrate the brave men and women both military and civilian who gave their lives during World War I. The bench and tree both mark what is the centenary of the conflict and are sited within the grounds of Oldham Parish Church for all to enjoy

During April with the help of the Friends of Strinesdale Volunteers and in conjunction with ‘Life for a Life’ Friends of the Forest. The Common native Red Poppy seeds were sown to commemorate the up and coming centenary of WWI.

We would also like to thank United Utilities for donating this area at Strinesdale Country Park.

On the eve of 6th December 2013, ‘Life for a Life’ once again supported Darian House Children’s Hospice by sponsoring the ‘Lights of Love’ carol service at Blackburn Cathedral. The carol service has been held annually at Blackburn Cathedral for a number of years and ‘Life for a Life’ has been proud to sponsor it for the last few years with a donation of £1000.

Although the majority of ‘Life for a Life’s donations now go towards capital expenditure, helping to buy essential equipment, we also support events like the ‘lights of love’ to help families remember a loved one they may have lost.

With Life for a Life’s new funding application system nearing the end of it’s first full year in operation, we have received many applications from new health related organisations, however ‘Life for a Life’ was pleased to receive an application from a beneficiary we have supported for many years; Bolton Hospice. The hospice has been undertaking a major expansion and refurbishment project which is due to run into the 2014 and has seen the addition of new rooms and facilities for patients. As part of this work the Hospice will be adding some helpful new technology to bring bed rooms up-to-date with the introduction of ‘Smart TV’s’, which will enable inpatients to access the web, social media and Skype from the comfort of their bed. This technology will help patients to stay in touch with loved ones, family and friends and ‘Life for a Life’ takes great pleasure in announcing that we will be donating £1699 to fund the purchase of 7 Smart TV’s which will be installed in the new year.

We would like to thank Bolton Hospice for their continued commitment to patient wellbeing and allowing us to help support them.

It is also important to thank all those who support ‘Life for a Life’, whether that be through purchasing a memorial tree or a land owner who donates land which we can plant on, and in the case of the Bolton area the land at Marklands Reservoir was kindly donated by United Utilities and has help to raise £35,800 for Bolton Hospice. Without all your support our work would not be possible, so thank you!

On the 3rd December 2013 Bury Hospice was presented with a cheque for £6,000 by The Worshipful the Mayor of the Bury Metropolitan Borough Councillor Sharon Briggs and Elizabeth Matthew of Dunsters Farm Ltd on behalf of ‘Life for a Life’ Memorial Forests. We were joined by Lt Col. Pat Cooke of 207 (Manchester) Field Hospital and Maj Eddy Hardaker, Trustee of Life for a Life.

The £6,000 was raised through the sale of memorial trees at the Dunsters Farm memorial forest in Holcombe Brook, on land which was kindly donated by Dunsters Farm Ltd and the Radcliffe family.

Since its opening the site has generated £13,000 which has gone directly to Bury Hospice. This donation is in support of the hospices capital appeal which has funded the building of the new Bury Hospice on Rochdale Old Road. ‘Life for a Life’ has operated memorial woodlands in the Bury area for the last 10 years, on land donated by Bury Council, United Utilities and Dunsters Farm Ltd, and we are now pleased to say that we have donated £21,900 to Bury Hospice over that time.

During the National Tree Week (23rd Nov- 1st Dec) celebrations, school children from Bury and Royton, Oldham converged on the ‘Life for a Life’ Memorial Forests, Fusiliers Meadow in Whitefield to engage in the planting of a new hedge and fruit orchard as part of the ‘Friends of the Forest’ Scheme for Schools. ‘Life for a Life’ supports local charities across North West and further afield through the creation of beautiful forests, However it has never been our aim to create closed woodlands that the public can’t use; so in partnership with Fusiliers Museum in Bury we gave children a chance to engage with nature and create a new home where it can thrive in the borough.

The Children didn’t only plant trees but also built ‘Bug Hotels’ which were positioned in the wildlife area of the meadow, encouraging wildlife to “move in” and hopefully help to bring more flora and fauna to the area. The Fusiliers Museums ‘Pals Battalion’ enlisted the children in a re-enactment so that the children could learn about what life in the trenches of France during World War One might of been like. This was especially poignant given that the centenary of the ‘great war’ is just around the corner in 2014 and will be remembered in celebrations throughout the country.

The children also received a special ‘friends of forest’ study booklet which contained facts and information, as well as a packet of low flowering wild meadow flower seed so they can continue there nature adventure at home.

Following on from National Tree Week we are looking for schools or community who wouldlike to participate in sowing some wildflower and Poppy seeds in spring 2014, ready for the centenary of World War One in 2014, the aim is not only to enhance the beauty of the Meadow but will also be a respectful way to commemorate this important world event.

For further information regarding ‘Life for a Life’ Memorial Forests and our ‘Friends of the Forest’ Scheme please visit our website www.lifeforalife.org.uk and get in touch

On a sunny Sunday morning at the ‘Life for a Life’ Salmon Fields meadow memorial forest a tree and picnic bench were dedicated to a local Royton hero, who served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (R.E.M.E) on numerous tours.

Michael Pavitt or ‘Pav’ as he was known to his friends and family was affectionately remembered with a parade, whilst a lone piper and standard bearers from local associations in Oldham, presided over the tree and bench dedication, which had been paid for through kind donations by the local community.

‘Life for a Life’ on many occasions offer help to local communities who wish to do something special for heroes like ‘Pav’. However on this occasion the effort was not all ours.

We would like to thank all whom attended the tree and bench dedication and helped to raise the funds needed but we would also like to thank one of our long term partners, Oldham Council for allowing the use of a disused concrete base that has been on the site for some time.

‘Life for a Life‘ has carefully refurbished this base at no cost to the Council, allowing the new picnic bench to be securely fixed and replace a broken bench which once stood there.

Furthermore, we would also like to thank Chadderton Welding a local fabrication and welding company who very kindly fabricated and donated ‘free of charge‘ the 4 steel fastening cups which hold the bench in place.