18 November 2011: Planting Michael's tree
We had been looking forward to planting the tree for Michael ever since last year, when we had joined Oliver Tobias in dedicating the Wellingtonia to him.
The account of that event is here.
It was cloudy when we set out, but turned into a lovely sunny day by the time we arrived, and the park was beautiful, still in its autumn colours.
We met up with another member of the group, who had missed most of the previous event at Woodchester, and we all went to see whether our commemorative stake was still where we'd left it.
It wasn't.
Then we saw some wooden posts sticking out of the grass further along in the field, and located our stake next to one of them, along with the hole already dug for the tree.
While waiting for the Forester, we went for a bit of a walk, and think we found the place where they filmed the battle in the swamp during the "Arthur of the Britons" episode, "Arthur is Dead."
The 'stunt' tree casts a giant shadow!
Then the Forester, David Armstrong and the last of our party arrived, and we went to plant the tree.
It was to be planted in a lovely location at the top of a slope, quite near a much older Cedar, nearing the end of its life. The site chosen was actually at the tip of the shadow cast by the Wellingtonia we dedicated last year.
Before the tree went in the hole, some tokens were thrown in to baffle future archaeologists.
Then we planted it, using the shiny Ceremonial Shovel.
I did some work, for a change.
Heather, Jane, me and Ideserveyou.
Lastly, we drank a toast to Michael’s memory, in mead, from the magnificent horn Jane had brought, and anointed the new tree with what we couldn’t drink.
Which wasn't much ...
The account of that event is here.
It was cloudy when we set out, but turned into a lovely sunny day by the time we arrived, and the park was beautiful, still in its autumn colours.
We met up with another member of the group, who had missed most of the previous event at Woodchester, and we all went to see whether our commemorative stake was still where we'd left it.
It wasn't.
Then we saw some wooden posts sticking out of the grass further along in the field, and located our stake next to one of them, along with the hole already dug for the tree.
While waiting for the Forester, we went for a bit of a walk, and think we found the place where they filmed the battle in the swamp during the "Arthur of the Britons" episode, "Arthur is Dead."
The 'stunt' tree casts a giant shadow!
Then the Forester, David Armstrong and the last of our party arrived, and we went to plant the tree.
It was to be planted in a lovely location at the top of a slope, quite near a much older Cedar, nearing the end of its life. The site chosen was actually at the tip of the shadow cast by the Wellingtonia we dedicated last year.
Before the tree went in the hole, some tokens were thrown in to baffle future archaeologists.
Then we planted it, using the shiny Ceremonial Shovel.
I did some work, for a change.
Heather, Jane, me and Ideserveyou.
Lastly, we drank a toast to Michael’s memory, in mead, from the magnificent horn Jane had brought, and anointed the new tree with what we couldn’t drink.
Which wasn't much ...