The time finally came for David Springer to plant a tree in memory of his brother, Benjamin Zephaniah, with his family from the Benjamin Zephaniah Family Legacy Group.

David originally contacted us from the Family Legacy Group wanting to plant a tree in memory of Benjamin. We decided it wasn’t enough, and thus The Zephaniah Forest was born. 65 trees for the 65 years of Benjamin’s life, each paired with 65 poems chosen through a competition named after his famous Trees Please.

This was in January. In July we released the fundraiser and press release, with 106 incredible kind and generous sponsors, whose contributions have directly funded the diverse collection of trees, planting them, and caring for them in the years to come, alongside the community Benjamin grew up in in Newtown.

It was a lovely crisp morning planting six trees with Benjamin’s siblings, David, Millicent, Joyce, and her husband Frank. We were also joined by resident Ebony, 6-year-old published poet Jayce Joyce (shortlisted for Birmingham City University’s Future Writers competition, and the youngest author in the world) and his wonderful mother, as well as BCC Woodland Team assisting us in digging the holes ready to plant, and our full BTP team! Thank you to everyone who made the magic happen.

It was such a special occasion, with each of the trees being named after one of the siblings and their mother. BTP would like to thank the Benjamin Zephaniah Family Legacy Group for trusting us with this beautiful commemorative project in the name of Benjamin Zephaniah, and it has been a true pleasure to be able to plant these trees in the community he once lived.