Street Tree enthusiast - Stuart Checkley

Our volunteers are from many walks of life and each month we chat with one.

Stuart is now our Area Rep in Forest Hill, but he has had Street Trees for Living roles for years. He was a founding trustee for the newly independent charity in 2019 and was central to its creation. His interest in nature is far more long-standing, and deeply personal. “At the age of four I remember being given an ostrich egg, and the Observer’s Book of Birds. These days, seventy years later, I never lose the sense that as human beings we belong in nature.”

However Stuart became a street-tree enthusiast relatively recently. Until seven or eight years ago his main interests were the birds and the bees and wildlife in his local area. This resulted in a delightful summary of observations, written with sponsors of street trees in mind, which you can read HERE

Stuart begins each day with contemplation of an enormous silver birch in his garden, often with the sun rising behind it. “It helps me to look beyond myself, and is part of my Christian practice before praying and reading my Bible." He speaks passionately about the foolish and ignorant destruction of our world. He feels “fantastic relief” when, one by one, he addresses this by helping local people get trees planted. Fifty have been planted in the streets round him since 2016. He visits them whenever he can. He knows it's beyond the call of duty, but sometimes he visits them several times a week on his bike.

Stuart trained and worked in psychiatry until his retirement. He has a lot to say about people’s relationship to trees. As an Area Rep he notices their longing for them, their deep attachment to them, and conversely their acute sense of loss when trees fail or can’t be planted as expected. Stuart is convinced that trees are, in general, deeply significant to their human sponsors and neighbours, and supply an emotional need.

About volunteering for Street Trees for Living Stuart says, “I have learnt there are a huge number of good people in Lewisham who care for nature. Each has a different story, but they have an enthusiasm for nature in common, which the charity harnesses. Nature hasn’t given up its struggle for survival, and nor have we who want to help it.”