The oldest tree in the East End is a black mulberry in Bethnal Green. Since 2017, it has also been the subject of furious dispute. The developers Crest Nicholson want to move it out of the way of a planned block of luxury flats, just 35 per cent of them ‘affordable’. After three years of campaigning, and an online petition garnering more than 16,000 signatures, local residents have secured it a temporary stay of execution (the campaigners argue that relocating the tree, as Crest Nicholson and Tower Hamlets Council have agreed to do, will likely kill it). In January, the High Court ordered a judicial review of the proposals (scheduled for 4–5 May). The Bethnal Green tree is not the only mulberry in London under threat. Six miles away, residents of the Park View Estate in Islington are beginning their own similar challenge, to developers’ proposals to fell a 70-year-old tree from which they still make annual mulberry jam.
The conservation works was part of a Heritage Lottery Funded project. The project focused on the life of George, who was also known as the ‘Beautiful Spotted Boy’ by revisiting the 18th century Vincentian presence in the UK. With this grant and the support of Marlow Museum and Marlow Society, SV2G were able to share and celebrate George’s life. The project explored Marlow’s connections with the community in the Wycombe district, with High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire having the largest population of Vincentians in the UK. George’s body is buried in the graveyard at All Saints Church, Marlow, with his grave being previously unrecognisable to the general public, but this has now been restored as part of this project to preserve Vincentian heritage in the UK.