Queen Mother's Meadow, Strinesdale
- Oldham, OL4 2JQ
- Car park facility available
- Hawthorn
Waterworks Road
Waterhead
Oldham
OL4 2JQ
UNITED KINGDOM
Opened in 2009 as an additional planting area to accompany the Kings Meadow, this beautiful site was graciously donated by United Utilities to mark the 10th anniversary of the establishment of Life for a Life as a charity.
The first tree was planted by the Consul General of the Republic of Poland to honour the memory of those who lost their lives in WW2 at the battle of Monty Cassino, as well as the Polish General Wladyslaw Anders.
This site is now full for tree planting and visitors will start to see a reduction in the grass cutting regime. This change in management is to allow wildflowers, including Yellow Rattle, Clover and Oxeye Daisies, to proliferate creating a colourful landscape, perfect for pollinating insects with the fishing lake as its backdrop.
Life for a Life planting areas are natural environments where we encourage wildlife and plantlife to flourish, as such additional items should not be added to the tree or the space around it, especially as they can cause damage to the tree. Please be aware that any prohibited items left on or around memorial trees will be removed.
Although, this site is now full to the planting of new memorial trees, if you have an existing memorial tree dedicated you can still upgrade memorial plaques, add additional ashes to a memorial tree, order memorial keepsakes etc.
Now that this memorial forest is closed to new tree planting you will see slight changes in the way we manage the site. The aim is to create a forest that will mature over time and become a local amenity for both visitors and wildlife. Therefore, the management regime will move to one which is more sympathetic to the environment. In practical terms, this will mean a gradual reduction in grass cutting as the tree canopy closes to help promote a richer diversity of wildflowers and other ground flora.
All the memorial trees are guaranteed for 25 years and any tree which has unfortunately not established itself successfully will be replaced from a selected mixture of 'understory' species consisting of either Hazel, Hawthorn or Holly that will help diversify the woodland creating an even better home for nature.
Furthermore, as the memorial trees grow they will be 'crown-lifted' which involves removing the lower limbs of the trees to help maintain access as the trees continue to mature and allow air and light to pass through. Eventually, the plaque in front of the trees will be removed as the site transitions from a formalised memorial woodland into the memorial forest we all want it to become. At this point a new sign will be erected that will let people know how the forest was established and what the trees represent.