I last talked about the Ankerwycke Yew and the Magna Carta on January 23rd. Now I want to tell you that French Brothers ferry company is due to start running trips across to the island, to see the famous yew, next to the old priory, from mid April on, so at last the tree is being given the pilgrimage and recognition it deserves, as the place where King John and the barons met for the agreement of the Magna Carta. This was the first act towards democracy and the modern state in Britain and it could be said that the Ankerwycke yew, witness to the proceedings, is an apt  symbol of our democracy and the scales of justice. It has been a long haul to put this yew tree centre stage, as the site had been entirely forgotten as the place of the inauguration of Saxon Kings and in the early 90’s a group of us had to fight to stop the yew being cut down for a golf course, with an emergency Tree Protection Order.

The first time a TPO was used to protect an ancient yew was in 1980 for the 3,000 year old yew at Coldwaltham in West Sussex, which is thankfully still there. These things don’t always work of course. Many years ago at the Aberglasney Yew tunnel, the fines were waived aside in the interests of tourism. If we don’t get proper legal protection for our ancient yews then each community will have to be vigilant and ready to guard each of our ancient yews as they come under threat in our current world of rapid development. It requires some concerted effort to do this and it is touch and go whether the fine for destroying a tree under a TPO is enough to stop a developer. In many cases it simply is not.

We are planning our next step, and waiting for Brexit to happen, in order to reclaim some attention from politicians. We will be delivering the petition to Westminster in about 6 weeks time, in mid April and will be really glad if others can join us. So make a mental note and I will let you know when the date is to be. Meanwhile enjoy the updates and keep signing and sharing the petition.