Dreaming Trees to light up Howard Davis Park

Howard Davis Park will be transformed using light and sound to create Jersey’s first park illuminations event, ‘Dreaming Trees’.

Trees throughout the park will be lit up each evening for a week, and images sent in by local children will be projected onto the recently refurbished Howard Davis Hall.

The aim of the Dreaming Trees project is to encourage Islanders outside and into the park this winter, to showcase Jersey’s trees, and explain more about international scientific research which explores how trees communicate and share resources.

The unique lighting and soundscape have been inspired by the work of Dr Suzanne Simard, leader of The Mother Tree Project and author of Finding the Mother Tree, whose scientific research has demonstrated how trees communicate over a ‘Wood Wide Web’.

Dreaming Trees is organised by the Parks and Gardens team within Infrastructure, Housing and Environment, and is supported by the Creative Island Partnership and sponsors Rathbones Investment Management International.

Bruce Labey, Senior Operations Manager of Parks, Gardens and Cleaning Services said: “The aim of the Dreaming Trees is to get people to look at trees in a new light, literally. The science that has been published over the last 20 years about how trees communicate, react intelligently and look after each other is truly spectacular and we wanted to draw attention to that in a fun way. Ahead of the illuminations, we have provided schools with free learning packs linked to the local curriculum to share the latest mind-boggling research findings. Trees are so important to all of our futures but especially to children.”

Catherine Taylor, Chief Operations Officer of Rathbones Investment Management International, said: “Rathbones in Jersey has always supported community events, and in recent years this has involved initiatives to support the environment. We were delighted that our tree-planting in collaboration with St George’s Preparatory school and the Parks and Gardens team on the Railway Walk and in Coronation Park had caught the attention of Bruce Labey. The Dreaming Trees concept was imaginative, and we were excited to be invited to sponsor an event which would be illuminating both in terms of the spectacle designed for Howard Davis Park, but also in the creative input to the school curriculum in Jersey.”