A CHERRY tree planting in a Wisbech park was the first of many events that will take place in Fenland to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Members of several environmental and heritage groups were joined by Fenland councillor Peter Murphy at the Tillery Field, in Alexandra Road, yesterday as the tree was planted.

The tree was donated by Fenland District Council. It also replaces a tree that was planted last year but did not survive.

A council spokesman said: “The planting was also designed to celebrate the Queens’ Diamond Jubilee.”

Also taking part in the tree-planting ceremony were Brian Massingham and Penny Stocks of Wisbech in Bloom, Penny and Rex Carkeck and Sarah Ledger of Friends of St Peter’s Church, David Edwards, Bridget Holmes and Janet Stevens of the Friends of Tillery Field, Peter Clayton of the Octavia Hill Society and Bob Ollier, the council’s parks and open spaces manager.

The picturesque park, at the bottom of Alexandra Road, has undergone a makeover over the past couple of years with a series of improvements, including the installation of new gates and extra lighting.

Back in the 19th century it was an overflow graveyard for St Peter’s Church, when it was called the “New Burial Ground”. The Friends of Tillery Field decided to give it back its original name, which means “the place where tiles are made”.

This year marks the centenary of the death of Octavia Hill, one of Britain’s pioneering environmental campaigners. Bridget Holmes, of the Friends of Tillery Field, said it was Octavia Hill’s foresight that helped to save disused cemeteries as open spaces.