Maria Grogan

Maria Grogan - Street Rep and sponsor since 2014

For nearly ten years Maria Grogan has been the Street Rep in her road in Ladywell, introducing herself to neighbours and organising support for planting trees. For them she is “the Tree Lady”.

Maria’s childhood was in Kent on the edge of London. “I was very lucky. We had a wood on the edge of the village. It was full of bluebells and it was my playground.” She has wanted to be around trees ever since.

To start with, her contact with STfL was for deeply personal reasons. “I had lost my baby Beatrix and wanted a memorial that I would always be able to see. I had heard of street trees as memorials but couldn’t find how to go about it. Then I saw the suggestion in Brockley Society’s newsletter. It was part of a project that is now Street Trees for Living. Beatrix’s was my first tree, planted in March 2015. But we’re on course to have fourteen trees soon on our bit of Shell Road!”

Maria says “it may be a good idea for many people who have suffered loss to consider planting memorial street trees. It’s a good way of recognising what has happened, creating life out of an ending, in a place that will always be accessible to you.”

Regarding the role itself she says, “I love meeting new people and enjoy the flexibility of the role. It fits easily round the rest of my life.”

As a child Maria had a cherry blossom tree in her back garden. “It always flowered on my birthday at the end of May, so I thought it was my tree.” As a Street Rep she encourages a similar sense of ownership in her ever-greener road.