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Press Releases & Press Packs
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The
Jubilee Oak - A Sense of Place - Programme Six
Sunday
2 June, 12.05-12.35pm
Friday
7 June, 2.10-2.40pm (repeat)
BBC
Essex - 103.5 & 95.3 FM
Planted
to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, the huge oak tree in the
village of Sandon near Chelmsford was the symbol of a community
for more than a century, and the largest of its kind in Britain.
Chris
Mann lives next to the village green and says: "There's not
a young girl in the village whos not met someone by the tree,
according the noises and the laughter that we hear from time to
time. We have got a whole new crop of young women with children
and I was speaking to some of them recently and someone said 'Yes,
I remember doing my courting there' so yes, there are some people
locally that did meet their guys and get married."
When
the tree collapsed and died, there was a great sense of loss, but
now three new trees have been planted to continue its legacy and
mark Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee.
Local
historian Reg Bush was stunned when the tree collapsed: "I
was very distressed. It was part of my life. This tree had always
been the centre of everything in the village and its disappearance
without any warning was absolutely tragic to me."
Linda
Zabell lives opposite the village green where the tree stood: "It
was the last one to lose its leaves and the very last one to come
out too, so that's why you noticed it."
Music
from Vivaldi's Four Seasons is interwoven with descriptions and
stories about the tree from adults and children.
Producer:
Anton Jarvis, BBC Essex
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