Futurecity have been appointed to curate and manage the public art programme at residential development, Berewood, in South Hampshire. As part of the public art programme at Berewood London-based art, landscape and architecture practice, Wayward, will deliver a multi-strand community engagement project.
Part one of this project is ‘It Takes 700 Acorns to Grow a Boat’, a community-wide acorn growing campaign, seeding and growing oak trees from found acorns on the floor of Berewood’s ancient woodland.
According to A.J. Holland’ book, Ships of British Oak: The Rise and Decline of British Shipbuilding in Hampshire, the construction the HMS Victory required 700 large oak trees, along with considerable quantities of elm and beech.
In October 2015, Wayward took pupils form Berewood Primary School on a walk through Berewood’s ancient woodland and collected just under 400 acorns, which the pupils potted at a potting workshop run by Wayward in November. The pupils and wider community will nurture the samplings until they are ready to be planted out into Berewood. The further 300 acorns will be collected and potted and raised over the coming years.
By growing these trees, the community is planting a woodland large enough to build a new ship. This project celebrates the nautical history of the woodland and is reseeding new forests for the region.
