Special Trees For Special People

 So , it was Boxing Day, there were 225 trees left to plant this season, we needed to crack on and get planting. 

Twenty five trees at a time has turned out to be just a nice number to deal with. The Woodland Trust delivery was conveniently bunched into bundles of twenty five and it turns out , 4x people for 2x hours can manage those in a relaxed fashion including tagging them (and if I am one of the four , I get to plant a few too). 

We had planned to plant twenty five Hazel trees on Boxing Day in order to work off a bit of Christmas dinner, two hours would be enough time in the chilly weather and we didn't want to pressure ourselves. 

We managed to get the planting almost completed in double quick time when Caroline (who features regularly in this blog - as she helps me out with so much stuff) asked a favour. 

Her friend Patience Mackarness, who is both a writer and a fellow outdoor swimmer, had lost her elderly Mum the day before. On Christmas Day. Could we plant a tree for her? 


Torla Mackarness it seems, was 100 years old when she died, and was, by all accounts a lovely lady. How could we not mark this lovely ladies passing with a tree, what a privilege to be able to do that. And so we did. 



Given the seasonal time of Torlas passing, a seasonal tree seemed appropriate and we had a few holly trees sitting close by in pots, waiting to be planted. We chose the best one and set to work. Caroline was telling us, as we worked, that Patience had written a lovely story of Torla and her Great Great Grand-daughter Hazel. 

A Great Great Grand-daughter called Hazel? Wait, we are planting Hazel trees! It was too much of an opportunity to miss, we had to plant a tree for Hazel too, next to her Great Great Grandmas tree.  



And so those trees sit, side by side, at the top of the field. One tree planted for a lady that will sadly never see her tree. And one tree planted for a lady too young to yet realise the tree exists. But I would love for her to come and visit one day. 

My field just keeps giving me new gifts, I had sort of imagined we may one day bury people in the field and plant a tree for them (I hope to be the first in the queue for that) but I had never really thought about dedicating trees to people, a bonus pleasure - though at a sad time this time around.

If you fancy reading something beautiful, read the story Patience wrote about Torla and Hazel here

Torla & Hazel. Photo Credit : Patience Mackarness



Comments

  1. Patience Jones5 January 2021 at 23:18

    This is wonderful, John. Thank you so much for making Torla and Hazel part of your great project, and thanks to Caroline for suggesting it. Hazel and her family would love to visit the site one day. For the record, Torla was born in Sedbergh in 1920, when it was still part of Yorkshire - which makes the location extra fitting!

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