BNU visited by His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire for commemorative tree planting
His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, The Countess Howe, visited BNU in October to plant a commemorative tree in honour of The Queen.
Greeted with a reception in The Room at our High Wycombe Campus, The Countess Howe was introduced by the Vice-Chancellor Professor Nick Braisby before being led outside for the official tree planting.
The Countess Howe took time to speak to a number of colleagues from across the University, and was particularly pleased to hear about the recent developments in BNU’s civic engagement work within our communities.
BNU was specially selected to receive the commemorative tree as part of The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) Initiative, the ‘Tree of Trees’. The QGC is a UK-wide tree planting programme to mark Her Late Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee weekend celebrations, whereby a living sculpture of 350 native British trees was created by designer Thomas Heatherwick as a symbol of hope, regeneration, and optimism.
The tree was received as part of the second planting season of the QGC Initiative, which has been extended until the end of March 2023 to honour Queen Elizabeth II. The other recipients in the county who will receive their tree from The Countess Howe are Camphill Community in Milton Keynes, and the National Paralympic Heritage Trust in Stoke Mandeville.
The tree arrived set in an aluminium pot embossed with Her Late Majesty’s cypher and was planted in the meadow garden facing Wycombe Hospital.
Throughout her 70-year reign, Her Late Majesty planted more than 1,500 trees all over the world.
The Countess Howe was appointed to the role of His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire in June 2020 and is the first ever women to hold the office in the county of Buckinghamshire. As the only public University in the county, Buckinghamshire New University is proud to bestow The Countess Howe with an Honorary Doctorate which we look forward to celebrating during the University's Graduation Week in July 2023. We look forward keenly to working alongside The Countess Howe to further strengthen the role of BNU as a civic university.
