30 fruit trees have been planted in East Cowes, creating the Queen Elizabeth II Community Orchard, which was officially opened earlier this week (Wednesday).
In a joint effort between East Cowes Town Council and Red Funnel, residents will be able to enjoy apples, pears and cherries from the trees — in about 5 years’ time!
Shovelling the last few spades of earth around the locally-made sign, the mayor of East Cowes, Tracy Reardon, said she hopes the orchard will thrive and it can be developed as a source of fresh fruit for the community. She said:
“We are pleased, as always, to work with Red Funnel to deliver projects that will benefit our town.
“As the town continues to thrive, so we hope, will our relationship with Red Funnel.”
It is hoped the orchard will create a safe and relaxing space for the community and is part of the ferry company’s ongoing commitment to the Island, which has seen 160 trees planted across the Island to celebrate its 160th birthday.
Lee Hudson, Red Funnel’s commercial director, also helped with the finishing touches and said they were very excited to open the orchard for everyone to enjoy.
He said:
“We are extremely proud to partner with the community to gift such an important aspect of what makes the Island so unique — its scenic spaces and biodiversity.”

























































































Only viable if the trees are incased in high wrought iron tall frames, otherwise snapped off by the bored, tax credit funded ‘children’ of the area.
Nice thought though.
What a fantastic idea , thankyou to Red funnel and all that helped with the orchard for the East Cowes community
160 trees! Hardly scratching the surface of the problem. 160,000 trees wouldn’t be enough. Wake up everyone and realise that we have destroyed this planet and we will have to suffer the consequences. Blinkered fools planting a measly 30 trees for PR and lip service shows the level of ignorance. Brace yourself for the impending apocalypse. There is no reversing now. God help us.
I am still waiting for global warming, cold house, tomato seeds won’t germinate.
SEE the good side of warmer climates. Less fossil fuels needed for heating, more plant growth moping up Co2, sea has more alga to absorb such as will the increased plant growth.
It is NOT a coincidence that Jungles ‘grow’ in hot areas, and we ‘cry’ when such is cut, but as the world warms then MORE plants will flourish and self heal the ‘alledged’ damage.
Prob is BBC and those mouth pieces for those who are making billions from forcing a GREEN fake ‘save the planet’ campaign won’t tell you ANYTHING pos only neg
So don’t fret, and IF no hope, lets enjoy and binge on heating, driving and flying NOW.
You are staggeringly stupid “Seeing Red? NO; PINK”.
I suggest you get an education before spouting more total drivel. Maybe start at primary school level and work your way up to the books with lots of words and less pictures. Try to avoid the Internet for your education because it is rife with morons spouting utter drivel.
No there are lots of credible scientists reporting few problems from so called climate catastrophe. Sheep swallow BBC propaganda.
I see Scandinavia has falling see levels but not publicised.More polar bears and coral reefs doing well. But no publicity. Record snow on earth presently. Billionaires and Banks doing well from net carbon.
These are all lies Goatface. Shut up and stop writing drivel.
You seem pretty confused – you say global warming is a great opportunity to be positive about but also claim it doesn’t exist – because your tomato seeds aren’t germinating! Facepalm.
One way of claiming one third of the recreation ground that st James have been trying to take since it was stole off the town and turned into private homes
Give it a year they will fence it off with no public access
Give it a rest, this worlds be changing for millions of years, all this climate change talk is purely a massive money making scam to make the rich richer and the poor spend even more! All the losers buying electric milk floats means there will more petrol for my v8 so spose it’s not all bad
Course it is darling. Thick as
Far from thick darling, do your own research instead of just following the crowd,
Good luck with your medication. Being a hunter gatherer was do much more fun.
What an absolute joke. The youth of today will ruin it.
What about this idea. Instead of a few trees that will be no good to noone how about redevelop the old doctors that you have kept out of shot or the unused school that is also out of shot.
We need to let developers in with money to turn this town around. We need a fixed link so people have the choice of better paid jobs on the mainland.
Wake up and stop living in la la land we are killing this town and this island.
There will never be a tunnel or a bridge because either would be far too EXPENSIVE to ever happen.
If you want a better job, move to the mainland. Moving for a better job is normal behaviour. A better job will not come looking for you.
Goverment can barely do HS2 on the ground. I wouldn’t hold my breath for a tunnel under the sea or a bridge over it 😉
I just hope the trees are allowed to grow and not removed or vandalised, there are some very sick minded people about who do take pleasure in destroying things that are beautiful if left alone. Well done to those involved in the planting of these trees, the bees and birds will appreciate them, and look forward to 5 years hence.
Would of made more sense for red funnel to give islanders better discounted prices instead of lashing out on this that will be a mess in a year
Those trees cost 50 quid. Hardly lashing out.
Community orchards is the latest ,trendy, eco ,green, thing.
People rarely want them due to maggots and scab. I couldn’t give mine away to neighbours.If they grew Pringles and midget gems they would have been stripped.
Pigeons eat cherries when they are tiny.
Nice move though as fruit trees are a good wildlife habitat and food source.They look good too.
Stop moaning you horrible moany git. Put yourself in a sack and get in the sea.