The Jewish community of Reading recognised the start of the new year for trees with a Tu BiShvat celebration at Englefield Estate on February 11, writes Atiya Chowdhury.

On their tenth year of marking the festival, members of the Reading Liberal Jewish Community (RLJC) were joined by supporters and Englefield's very own forestry team to add to a wooded area first started in 2007.

In light of Tu BiShvat, a celebration of nature and the coming of Spring, Richard Edwards, Englefield's Forestry Manager, said: “We are proud to support the RLJC with its annual celebrations and, over the years they have planted a small woodland of trees which is an impressive sight.”

Tu BiShvat is an important festival in Judaism as it marks the departure of Jewish people from Jerusalem and how the plantation of trees allowed the Jewish people to connect themselves to their former land, both symbolically and spiritually.

Noyal Noble, of the RLJC said: “The planting, and sharing of fruits, always takes place on the designated day, regardless of weather.

"In the past we've planted in the snow and heavy frost, as well as the occasional brilliant sunshine.”