Public urged to vote for Scouting oak to win Europe-wide tree competition

THE PUBLIC is being urged to vote for a tree which symbolises the Scouting movement to secure a UK win in a Europe-wide competition.

The Woodland Trust is calling on people to support the Gilwell Oak, Essex, before voting closes at the end of February in a bid to win the European Tree of the Year award.

The oak tree stands in Gilwell Park, Epping, the home of the Scouting movement conceived by Robert Baden-Powell.

Baden-Powell adopted the oak as an analogy in 1929 not only for the growth of the movement worldwide, which had begun with a small trial camp some 21 years earlier, but also as a message to Scouts that big things are possible from modest starts.

From 1919, Baden-Powell and his contemporaries created and delivered some of the first adult leader training courses under its branches, and they have grown into training undertaken by the world’s 10 million volunteer Scout leaders.

The oak was chosen by a panel of experts to represent the UK in the European competition, from the winning trees of the year for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland which were voted for by the public.

The Gilwell Oak is currently in fourth place in the competition, behind Portugal, Russia and Spain, and the Woodland Trust hopes a push by UK voters – especially those with a Scouting connection - could see it win the top spot.

Last year, Wales’s Brimmon Oak came second in the competition behind the entry from Poland.