On 3rd December, Birmingham City University’s (BCU) Volunteer Network students joined us to celebrate one of their Honorary Doctorates, Benjamin Zephaniah, by planting several of The Zephaniah Forest’s trees with us in Burbury Park. Benjamin Zephaniah was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from BCU, so it was wonderful to plant trees with the student volunteer network. […]
Category: Zephaniah Forest
Ebony Hikers Tree Planting
On the weekend that Tree Week began, we started planting The Zephaniah Forest in Burbury Park, with Qian Zephaniah planting the first tree for her husband, and Ebony Hikers joined us on the second day to celebrate the life and legacy of this iconic Brummie. Despite Storm Burt being forewarned, he once again didn’t stop […]
The Zephaniah Forest’s First Tree for Tree Week
THE ZEPHANIAH FOREST Qian Zephaniah, her close friends and family planted the first tree (Milky Way tree from China), and subsequent four trees, in The Zephaniah Forest – the 65 strong legacy mini-forest being planted in Burbury Park, in memory of her husband Benjamin Zephaniah, this winter. Today marks the first day of National Tree […]
Burbury Park Poetree Walk
An afternoon in Burbury Park! The poetree walk and workshop on 9th November was a lovely couple of hours, filled with creativity and history. Julianne Statham’s fantastic tree walk, coupled with the myths and legends and tie these trees to present-day beliefs, and being in a space where Benjamin Zephaniah grew up was truly inspiring. […]
Writing Workshop
Poets Bradley Taylor (who has been working closely with us promoting the poetry competition) and Zakariye (our external judge representing the poetry community) ran a joint Zephaniah Forest Writing Workshop, on 30th October, at Cherry Reds’ in Birmingham City Centre. It was a truly wonderful session, with one attendee coming from Manchester, as well as […]
Big Green Sunday!
We had a great time at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC)’s Big Green Sunday at the Big Green Weekender! Catching up with Retrofit Balsall Heath, Fruit & Nut Village, Better Streets for Birmingham, City of Nature at Birmingham City Council, Marineau Gardens, Moseley Hive, and many more wonderful community groups. We were of course spreading the […]
Urban Sermon: A Tribute to Benjamin Zephaniah
This wonderful secular urban sermon, once given by Benjamin Zephaniah, was revived in the most spectacular way in his memory. On Monday 7th October, a heart-warmingly large crowd gathered in memory of Benjamin, with The Benjamin Zephaniah Family Legacy Group, held inside Birmingham Cathedral of St. Philip in the heart of the city centre, hosted […]
Caldmore Speaks Out
Caldmore Speaks Out was a truly wonderful event on Sunday 6th October filled with nature poetry, run by Poets, Prattlers & Pandemonialists at Caldmore Community Garden, hosted by Gracey Bee Poetry. We caught up with Barrington from Writers Without Borders, whose fabulous workshop inspired one of the poems that our Communications Manager read, as well […]
Zephaniah Forest Poetry Workshop
Bradley Taylor ran a fantastic Zephaniah Forest Poetry Workshop at Fletcher’s Bar, King’s Heath, 24th September. He has been working with us to promote the poetry competition for The Zephaniah Forest, as well as submitting his own poetry as well. As the Overcoat Poetry host, Bradley teamed up with us to run with incredible Benjamin […]
Sustainable Futures Festival
A magnificent day was had at Caldmore Community Garden’s Sustainable Futures Festival, where we were kindly invited to talk about The Zephaniah Forest and our poetry competition, encouraging people to write and submit their poetry with us towards Benjamin’s legacy trees in Burbury Park! With so many widely contributing community and corporate groups doing their […]
Benjamin Zephaniah: A Celebration
Yesterday’s (1st September) Benjamin Zephaniah: A Celebration held at the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) was filled with positivity and emotion, as people gathered here to remember the Birmingham icon and celebrate with his family, friends, and many creative and nature-loving individuals from our beautiful city and beyond. With powerful performances from Jasmine Gardosi current Birmingham […]
65 Poems Workshop
Barrington Gordon led a riveting 65 poems workshop, focusing on constructing a draft for the Trees Please, Poetry Please call-out, which will see poems dedicated to a specific tree to be recorded on TreePlotter and our website for The Zephaniah Tree Trail. Barrington opened with a soothing mindfulness exercise, focusing on a particular tree of […]
65 Poems for 65 Years
THE ZEPHANIAH FOREST: 65 POEMS FOR 65 TREES FOR 65 YEARS We are calling for submissions for our Benjamin Zephaniah legacy forest poetry competition! We are asking all of you creative Brummies to submit a poem on the theme of nature and Benjamin, and 65 of these poems will be associated with a particular tree […]
The Zephaniah Forest
It’s all about the roots!The Zephaniah Forest: 65 trees for 65 years Benjamin Zephaniah, dub poet, musician, actor and activist, was a Birmingham symbol of creativity and freedom, propelling Brummies further onto the international stage with his prolific and profound poetry. Universally recognised for his unique approach to his craft – being third on the […]