In years to come, sadly, there will no longer be a great chestnut tree to stand proud overlooking Eastfield Road, as it has done for over a hundred years, keeping watch over children playing outside the old Westbury Board School opposite, witnessing the many changing fortunes of its partner the Village Hall and most recently, greeting the residents of Westbury on Trym and their friends at local events like the Village Show.
With great sadness the Village Hall Management Committee has had to arrange for it to be felled this year. The reason is that following an extensive survey by arboricultural experts at the committee’s request, it has been found to be unsafe in high winds, due to being rotten internally. Not only this, but the roots are badly infected with honey-fungus which cannot be cured and which will produce further loosening at the base. It has been failing in ‘tree health’ for several years, with foliage being badly depleted as you may have noticed. After much discussion, a wide range of consultations regarding safety issues and removal costs, and with the agreement and permission of Bristol City Council, the committee has come to the sad conclusion that the glory days of this landmark tree are over and it must be taken down.
We deeply regret having to make this decision, but it is in the best interests of safety for all users of the Hall and especially for pedestrians and car owners passing along this narrow stretch of Eastfield Road, who might be injured by a large falling branch, plus possible damage being caused to the Village Hall itself.
So if you would like to keep a happy memory of this landmark tree for your families in the future, please come and take photographs or make sketches before April 13th, when work on it is scheduled to begin. The accompanying photograph of a large gathering beneath the tree was taken in 2009, showing many of the people associated with the revival of the Village Hall’s own fortunes from 1972 onwards (when it came under the new management of an independent, locally elected management committee, responsible to the Charity Commission) – who were attending a celebration of the Hall’s 140th Anniversary.
Designed and built at the instance of Henry St Vincent Ames of the original Cote House on the Downs, in 1869 it was opened as a Concert Hall and cultural centre for the people of Westbury on Trym, surrounded then by the fields, farms and large estates of this South Gloucestershire village. The tree has played a great part in the history of our Village Hall and we give thanks for its sheltering presence throughout more than two centuries.
Hilary Long (Trustee), on behalf of the Chairman and Trustees of Westbury Village Hall Management Committee