VISIT TO THE TREE - 29th APRIL 2007 - REPORT

NEW 'ARMCO' CRASH BARRIER

When Club Member Billy Visited the Site last Month (see right) there was a six foot high temporary fence all along the road . The first thing we saw as we arrived was that this fencing had gone & we now have a brand new 'Armco' Crash Barrier - Red & reflective white, with steel rather than wooden posts. so it was good to see that this was only there while the new 'Armco' barrier was being installed. The old was was very much in need of being replaced. The new barrier goes further along the road in both directions as you can see from the photos below. Also the old posts which are getting on for 25 years old were wooden and so not that strong. In fact when we built the steps the one nearest the tree was no longer in the ground at all due to soil erosion. In 2000, Kevin & Mark had to concrete it back in when they built the flat 'viewing platform'.

MORE VANDALISM - NOT A FAN THIS TIME, BUT A LOCAL 'TAGGER'

Sorry Mate! This is the wrong type of TAG! :-( Sadly although there wasn't too much litter and there weren't any messages pinned to the tree or anything like that, sadly someone had 'tagged' our framed 'Information Notice' in black spray paint (see top left).

As we drove up past the tree (from Marc's last home direction) it was the second thing I noticed (after the new Armco Barrier) :-(

Kevin was picking up the litter, a couple of fallen tree branches from around the site (though not on the steps or that near The Tree itself) & doing lots of work, while I chatted to locals who walked past, because as usual people passed by while we were there and stopped either just to look or to ask questions.One carful of people spotted us from the road (Queen's Ride) and drove round into Gipsy Lane to ask us if we were employed to do the work, so we explained that no we didn't get paid & did it because it should be done! :-) The driver said he had the vinyl from the 1970's when he was a fan.

As we hadn't expected to be removing spray paint we hadn't taken paint removing solvents etc. Kevin did what he could to remove as much of the spray paint as possible & jolly hard work it was).

Next time we're there, he will be taking appropriate cleaners and if that doesn't do the trick the 'Information Notice' will be removed so that a new sheet of perspex can be cut to replace the vandalised one. I mostly weeded the bark chippings around the PRS Memorial and steps as well as polishing. Sadly as I polished the PRS Memorial I noticed that someone had scratched it. We couldn't make out any actual letters, but it certainly was done on purpose :-( though fortunately the scratches aren't too deep.
So a Huge TANX to Kevin!

PHOTOS

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