A NATIVE oak tree was planted in Whitefield’s Hamilton Road Park to mark the 80th anniversary of a national charity for Holocaust survivors.

This year, for the Association of Jewish Refugees’s (AJR) 80 Trees for 80 Years campaign, native oaks are being planted around the country, symbolising the contribution to British life made by refugees who escaped the Nazis.

Hamilton Park Road was chosen as a site by Francoise Robertson, a Second World War refugee who lost family in the bombings and married locally.

Michael Newman, AJR chief executive, said: “The tree planting marks the heritage of our members and a place of historic interest associated with them. It enables the AJR to give back to and create a living legacy within the country that came home to the Jewish refugees.”

The tree will form part of The Queen’s Green Canopy, a planting initiative marking the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, council leader, added: “It was a great honour to have the tree planted in Bury, as not only does it recognise the great work the AJR does across the country but recognises the great contribution to Bury made by Jewish refugees and Jewish people as a whole.”

The tree will also be featured on the new UK Holocaust Map at www.ukholocaustmap.org.uk, a resource detailing the Holocaust and the British response.