Tuesday 8th September 2015
The Frome Standard (1st September 2015) features the following report about the removal of a tree (painted by J.M.W. Turner) from Stourhead to Frome Community College ~
“A 250 year old, 57 ft. tall, 11 tonne, Oak tree which fell in Turner’s Paddock, Stourhead, in January 2013 has been transported to the playing field at the Bath road entrance to Frome Community College. The intention is to re-erect it on the site in the summer of 2016 as part of a scheme to create a more significant main entrance to the college in this area. The tree featured in the painting “View over the lake at Stourhead” by JMW Turner in 1798 when it was 30 years old. The Heritage Lottery have awarded the charity Young People Frome £40,000 to involve the town’s youth in the tree’s historical and ecological heritage. The sculpture will signify the now depleted great forest of Selwood first recorded in 898 which once covered the whole Frome area. Students are carving personal aspirational tattoos into the heartwood of the tree. A visit to Tate Britain is planned for the end of September with a talk by the curator of the Turner Collection. Oral histories of Selwood will be collected. Young filmmakers will be supporting and documenting the project. A guided walk is planned along the 15 mile route through the Forest from Frome to Stourhead. Talks by local experts will take place and an exhibition will be mounted next year in Stourhead by the students. On college Open day 2016 young people will take part in craft activities, storytelling, and poetry workshops. Celebrating the installation of the tree at Frome Community College in July 2016 students will be involved in creating the start of an annual event; coordinating a performance and procession and traditional tree related activities, that will also fund raise to ensure the ongoing maintenance of the tree. The moving of the Oak tree was also supported by Pete Aylesbury of Connor Construction (South West Ltd); Ian Simpson of Riley Crane Hire; Kim Portland of National Trust Stourhead and John Brown.”