Nicholas Coleridge

HOLM OAK

THREE YEARS AFTER WE MOVED TO WOLVERTON HALL IN WORCESTERSHIRE, A TERRIBLE DISASTER HIT THE TREE. I HEARD ABOUT IT IN MUMBAI AIRPORT, WHILE WAITING AT THE CAROUSEL FOR MY LUGGAGE. MY MOBILE RANG. IT WAS THE TREE EXPERT. THE HOLM OAK HAD BEEN STRUCK BY LIGHTNING, AND THE TRUNK SPLIT DOWN THE MIDDLE, RIGHT DOWN TO GROUND LEVEL; YOU COULD SEE AN INCH-WIDE GAP THROUGH THE WHOLE TRUNK. THE REMEDY WAS DRASTIC. WE HAD TO REMOVE 35 PER CENT OF THE WEIGHT OF THE TREE, AND THEN HAVE A STEEL BRACE FITTED. IT WAS FIRED IN A FURNACE IN WOLVERHAMPTON, AND TOOK THREE WEEKS BEFORE IT COULD BE FITTED, DURING WHICH TIME THE TREE COULD HAVE COLLAPSED IN TWO AT ANY TIME. AT LAST THE JOB WAS DONE. THE POOR HOLM OAK LOOKED DISTINCTLY SICK FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS, AND RATHER LOPSIDED. I PRAYED WEEKLY FOR ITS RECOVERY. THEN SLOWLY, BY THE HEALING POWERS OF NATURE, IT REGAINED ITS SHAPE. WE WERE BLESSED TO SAVE IT. NICHOLAS COLERIDGE CBE CHAIRMAN OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM