Vic’s romantic gesture to charm his Nellie grows to become England’s tree of the year
WHEN thinking of ways to woo his girlfriend, Nellie, in the 1920s, it’s fair to say that Vic Stead branched out.
Spotting three beech saplings growing along his route from Garforth near Leeds to his sweetheart’s home in the nearby village of Aberford, he grafted the trio together to form the letter “N”.
The gesture worked, Vic and Nellie wed, and his sculpture, nicknamed “The Love Tree” by locals, has just been named England’s Tree of the Year by The Woodland Trust.
Their grandson, Chris Lund, who entered the tree into the competition said: “I was first shown the tree when I was three and have visited it many times since. It is such an important part of our family history. I regard it more as a living sculpture than a tree. We used to see it regularly when we visited our grandparents every week and so it was part of growing up.”
The tree is still popular with lovers today and has been the site of many proposals, as villagers believe it brings good luck.
Kaye Brennan, lead campaigner for the Woodland Trust, said of the English winner: “There was a lot of love for this northern gem. Its popularity is a tale of romance and has really captured the public’s interest to poll the most votes.” Elsewhere in the UK, a giant sequoia at Castlewellan Forest Park in County Down with 19 trunks that is a favourite with young tree climbers topped the poll for Northern Ireland in the annual competition. The tree was grown from one of the original seeds of a giant redwood brought back from California.
A spruce known as “Netty’s Tree” on Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides, planted more than 100 years ago by poet and land rights activist, Father Allan Macdonald, won the poll in Scotland. The island’s children are encouraged to play on the tree in a tradition started by Netty Macdonald, who lived nearby. The Pwllpriddog Oak, which stands in the hedgerow near the village of Rhandirmwyn in Carmarthenshire and is a giant tree believed to have been planted to commemorate the Battle of Bosworth, won over Welsh voters.
The oak is hollow and reputed at different times to have been the hiding place of a king, a meeting place for lovers and a shelter for a pig from the local farm.
The Woodland Trust is now asking for an overall winner to be entered into the European tree of the year awards and is hoping it will highlight how precious the nation’s trees are. “The UK’S trees could do with a bit more love,” added Miss Brennan. “Since last year’s contest, more trees have come down needlessly and opportunities to save important trees from plans such as HS2 have been denied.”