My interest in urban trees stems from a planting scheme to brighten dark corners of the dockyard in 1991 and I became a volunteer Tree Warden with Plymouth Tree People soon afterwards. Since then, I have pursued my interest of trees in the built environment by visiting other cities to observe how they are responding to the multi-disciplinary challenges involved and by gaining a Foundation Degree in arboriculture. During the national Big Tree Plant programme, 2010-2015, I led Plymouth Tree People in planting 800 amenity trees and work continues to get them properly established, while planting even more new and replacement trees.