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Memorial Orchard |
The Memorial Orchard is an open space at the rear of the BAS Cambridge site. The orchard will combine the role of being a site where rare varieties of East Anglian apple trees are grown and where those who died in the Antarctic are commemorated. BAS and the BAS Club have agreed to work together to develop The Memorial Orchard. The project is still at an early stage.
In 2005 the design and scale of the planting was approved and the landscaping of the paths completed. The plans are for 36 apple trees - two of each of eighteen East Anglian "heritage" varieties. The central area of the site will be mown and here will be the focus of the memorial to the staff of BAS and FIDS who lost their lives in the Antarctic. A memorial in the form of a polar sundial will grace the centre of the site.
The BAS Club commissioned two benches from Simon "Arkwright" Almond for the Memorial Orchard. They were delivered to the British Antarctic Survey at the time of the Cambridge Reunion in June 2006. They are currently positioned in the Quadrangle at BAS where they are appreciated.
In November and December 2005 BAS Club members in the Cambridge area dug all but a few of the 36 holes to take the trees when they were delivered from the nursery as bare-rooted one-year maidens. The trees were delivered early in 2006 and were planted but many suffered rabbit damage before being adequately protected. A further planting of some of the varieties will be necessary next winter. The site already contains mature trees planted to commemorate named individuals.
It will be 20 years before the apple trees are fully grown to their final height and the area has matured. The arrangements for a formal opening of the Memorial Garden when the Orchard is more mature will be decided jointly between BAS and the BAS Club.