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Residents saddened by loss of ancient elm tree

Josh CannIsle of Man
BBC Val Beety, wearing a lime green jumper, leans on a fence. In the background, you can see a children's play park and some goalposts. Behind that, you can see the branchless elm tree while it is being felled.BBC
Val Beety from Ballaugh

People living in a Manx village have shared their sense of sadness about the loss of an ancient elm tree that "everybody loved".

The tree in Ballaugh has been felled due it having Dutch elm disease.

Parish commissioners said the tree was thought to have been between 200 and 250 years old.

Local resident Val Beety said "it must have seen so much, as it outlived the nearby railway line" that ran alongside it from 1879 until the late 1960s. She added: "You'd always see children using the rope swing, and people always walked their dogs through the park where it stood."

Julie Barnett stands outside a shop. She is wearing a blue jumper with a golden necklace.
Julie Barnett said she "will be sad to see it go"

Julie Barnett, who works in a local shop, said "there were always kids playing in the park, swinging from the rope swing that hung from the tree".

She added: "It's always been there - my kids used to play there, I used to let them go and they'd be gone for hours.

"It's sad to think that their kids won't play in and around it."

Steve Curphy stands with his hands in his pockets in front of a large trunk of an elm tree. He is wearing a bright hi-vis top with orange trousers.
Steve Curphy stands by the felled elm

Steve Curphey said he had fond memories of the elm, having "climbed the tree and fallen out of it many times, even dislocating a finger because of it".

He said the tree had "seen so much - the first trains on the island used to pass through here, children going to school, soldiers going to war..."

Curphey, who is the chairman of the Ballaugh Commission, explained why the tree had to be felled on safety grounds.

"With the disease, the tree eventually rots and becomes unstable, it becomes a risk to people, especially the kids playing in the park... the branches have started to die and will just shatter off with little resistance."

A triangular sign sits on the grass, which says "tree cutting". In the background a large telehandler reaches up alongside the tree, with a worker in an orange top cutting it down.
Work is under way to fell the diseased elm

Curphey explained that "it looks like the trunk of the tree isn't showing signs of the disease" and has hopes that it can be carved into a wooden sculpture.

The timber will be sent to a government-approved burn site to help prevent the spread of the disease.

Following advice from the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, the parish will plant two lime trees to replace the felled elms, and dedicate them to local heroes.

"Hopefully, those trees will outlive many future generations."

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