2021

Trees give us life. They add beauty to our surrounds, and provide us with shelter and food. They are living, sentient beings. They give us hope for a planet that is in peril. And yet we mould, mutilate and destroy them. I recently watched in dismay as neighbours lopped off the limbs of an old copper beech tree in an adjacent garden - because it dropped leaves on their lawn and drive in autumn. The tree has been left permanently disfigured, its mutilated branches revealed each autumn and winter. Sadly, trees are unable to protect themselves, and in this case neither the owner nor anyone else could dissuade or prevent the vandals from carrying out their destruction.