The Family Tree

[sean]

As a child many of us had ‘a family tree’. This  could have been a gnarly old Apple in a grandfathers garden, bed sheets brought out on a summers day and tied to it to provide welcome shelter and shade whilst sitting inside munching on your Nan’s freshly made flap jacks. Or perhaps it could have been a Horse Chestnut which every autumn would provide all the grandchildren with a bounty of conkers to while away the hours in ‘battle’.

 

TREEspect are collecting memories and photographs for a prospective book entitled ‘The family tree’.  What were the games you played underneath and within its boughs. The picnics the family enjoyed under its summer canopy, the joy of picking a ripe apple every autumn. Is the tree still in the family? Are your children now able to engage with the tree as you did? Have you got old family photographs of you as a child with the tree? Are you able to photograph the tree as it is now? Your family tree may not be in a garden but may in fact have been out the front or back of the house or even somewhere else. 

 

“The tree measured our growth too. One by one we all got tall enough to swing up onto its lower branches without a boost. It was the high platform from which the bravest of us would jump and flap our arms in our earnest but futile attempts to fly.”

 

There’s a reason trees are always used as a metaphor for childhood, and why the trees we grew up with remain embedded in the landscape of our memories. Trees, like children, mark the passage of time.

 

“When I lived in Yorkshire from age 4 to 11, we had two HUGE ancient oak trees called Adam and Eve. Eve had fallen over countless years earlier and provided wonderful settings for the imagination, becoming a fortress, a ship, a dinosaur or dragon, or anything we wanted. Adam was still standing, and we had a treehouse in it and metal steps on the trunk. Wonderful memories!”

 

“The tree was our playground. We often climbed up into its sturdy branches where we pretended the afternoon away. Sometimes we imagined the tree was a huge military cargo plane trying to make a landing with only one of its four engines still sputtering. We marvelled how my two brothers managed to bring the plane down safely every time.
Or the tree became our tree house in which we lounged, giggled, and shared secrets.”

 

Please send your stories (including where the tree is/was) and photographs to [email protected] 
We will be posting a selection of memories and photos on our blog https://treespectblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/27/the-family-tree/

And please do encourage family and friends to share their memories.
 
 

[sean]

Bump