Special song as Gean tree planted
C r i e f f ’ s pic t u resque MacRosty Park was the setting for a special treeplanting ceremony with a difference recently.
Talented members of Crieff Choral Group gathered to see a Gean tree take pride of place within the popular Strath capital green space as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy project.
The tree was sponsored, sourced and planted by Daniel Mestecky of local firm RTS Forestry, in a plot selected by Calum Bachell, a greenspace ranger with Perth and Kirnoss Council.
Conducted by Ulrike Wutscher, Crieff Choral Group sang ‘The Gean Trees’, a piece created and composed for the occasion.
Among those gathered were Syd House MBE and Dr Nicola Small, both of local folk duo PlaidSong.
Nicola, a museum curator and local history officer with Culture Perth and Kinross, researched a poem of the same name by Violet Jacob of the House of Dun.
Syd set it to music, and it was then arranged for the choir by Perthshire composer Helen MacKinnon.
The planting of the Gean tree was Syd’s suggestion, partly as a result of having recently retired as head of Perthshire and Argyll for the Forestry Commission and as a result of currently serving on the Scottish committee of the Queen’s Green Canopy.
A plaque was created to mark the occasion by The Workshop in Aberfeldy, sponsored by Ardvreck School – which was represented on the day by pupils and staff.
Crieff ’s Chris McIntosh, deputy lord-lieutenant of Perth and Kinross, represented Her Majesty on behalf of the project – which has been planned to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The ceremonial duties were undertaken during the November 6 event by Ulrike and Alison Martin,
has been chosen to reflect both conductor Ulrike’s Austrian roots and her new home in Scotland.