Sudetenland Tales by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Sudetenland Tales

Page 100

a day and I always look up at it, but today I just saw it was gone. Someone has deliberately sawed it down. It’s an absolute tragedy. No one can believe that it has been cut down. There was a storm last night, but it’s withstood worse. There is no way this is not deliberate vandalism. People around here are shocked.”

Andrew Benton,45,added; “I’m outraged that someone has done this to such a beautiful tree. What the hell is the world coming to?” The tree, which has inspired its own beer in the nearby Twice Brewed Inn, is one of the most photographed in the UK. A Northumberland National Park Authority spokesperson said; ”We can confirm, that sadly, the famous tree at Sycamore Gap has come down overnight. We have good reason to believe it has been deliberately felled. It is not entirely currently clear whether the tree is a victim of Storm Agnes or it is a deliberate act, thought the cut was clean and straight, while storms are not yet known to carry chainsaws. The location was once a popular photographic subject, and it was described as one of the most photographed trees in this country. We are working with the relevant agencies and partners with an interest in this iconic North East landmark and will issue more details once they are known. Sycamore Gap was voted English tree of the year in 2016 in the Woodlands Trust’s awards and is much loved by the people