At a time where the Christmas tree is playing centre stage, I feel it necessary to extend congratulations to the beautifully stoic Brimmon Oak in Newtown, which has just won the UK Tree of the Year Award. And quite rightly too.
Never mind I’m a Celebrity, Strictly or the X Factor – the only thing I was voting for recently was this awesome oak which also has another accolade under its cambium belt – it managed to get planners to ‘bend’ the new Newtown by-pass around it. And that incidentally, is probably the only time that you will see a positive statement that has ‘planners’ and ‘bent’ in the same sentence!
The Brimmon Oak, Newtown, Powys, an ancient, pollarded oak which has been part of the landscape above Newtown for more than 500 years. The oak came under threat of removal to build a bypass, but Mervyn Jones, who farms the land on which the tree stands, fought a campaign to prevent its removal and then to win a 15 metre exclusion zone, “bending” the bypass to avoid the tree.
Although there were some tree-mendous contenders for this years Tree of the Year Award, run by the Woodland trust, I couldn’t help thinking that I pass notable trees nearly every day in this stunning part of the countryside, and totally agreed with the sentiment that many of them ought to have some recognition or preservation status.
In 2014 the Welsh Government established a Task and Finish Group to look at better protection for ancient and heritage trees. This group is comprised of experts with years of experience of protecting ancient trees and looking after our heritage; with representation from local authorities, Coed Cadw (Woodland Trust) and other conservation charities, the Ancient Tree Forum and other bodies.
The most recent meeting resulted in excellent conclusions in support of a register. However these are yet to be properly circulated by the Civil Service for agreement – the next step before the proposal can go to the minister for consideration.
Meanwhile, plans for better protection of ancient and heritage trees in Wales have been reaffirmed as a priority action for the Welsh Government by the Welsh Government’s Woodland Strategy Advisory Group.
In the meantime there is a Tree Register – a registered charity collating and updating a database of notable trees throughout Britain and Ireland – which you can join and contribute to. Find out more at www.treeregister.org
And on that note, “Why can’t Christmas trees sew? Because they keep dropping their needles!”
Happy Christmas to you all.
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