Childhood Trees,'The Story Of The Ivy & Oak Trees' by Sheila
Channel: semw52
Date: 2020-08-19

This was a spontaneous story recalled during a walk in my local woods recently, in 2020.I was considering  the threat to trees and reflecting on my love of trees and their importance in my childhood growing up in a rural community in the mid 1950s and early 1960s. Fifty years  on the trees are much more a part of my consciousness as global concerns increase about their protection and their  increasing destruction. As I wandered thru  our  woods I admired the beauty of the trees and their huge significance to the World in many ways and this just led on to memories of childhood and the early bond  us kids had with our trees.Games often involved the trees in many ways such climbing them, making dens in them, using them as a meeting places and sometimes using them  for bonfires,using their branches for toys such as swords and bows, making rafts--so many things included the various types of tree and they became  a part of rituals as children e.g. to be a member of a gang you would have to prove you could climb up a tree to the top and down the other side and I remember one boy breaking both arms when he fell on the way down from 'The Willow Tree'....Yes  different types of tree  had a place in a type of hierarchy--------'The Willow ' was a challenge  getting up it because of the rusty nails  put in place to help climb it and I actually grazed my abdomen on such a nail which my Mum  quickly treated---Our Mums' were great always treating gashes and grazes, bruises and wasp stings---You had to be tough to survive in our field--there were always tests I remember and kids were cruel at times calling others names etc....but basically  we stuck together against the gang across the railway line--a whole different story....yes a rich and colourful childhood and both sexes participated in all the games like football in the lane and cricket in the field---all stories as part of my  book called 'The Field'...Of course some girls were not allowed to get 'dirty' and had to keep their pretty dresses absolutely clean---remembering this was the 50s and early 60s with all the issues about the roles we should play in society--in the case of many girls  life could be restricted-------but my Mum allowed me to be 'free'---she had lived  thru the War ( WWII) and was well aware of Women's rights etc.....she always told me  'We are born Free but not Equal' ---so my mission became to  equal the balance and this started as a  kid------A scruffy blond haired angel who got her own gang known as 'Sheila's Army'....
Anyway folks --back to 'The Ivy Tree' which I helped to fell--This was the tree in the field  us kids feared the most---the tree that was dark and creepy and spooky and  scared me during the storms at night as it cast huge shadows on my bedroom wall--yes  'The Ivy Tree ' dominated the field although not quite as tall as 'The Tall Elm Trees' it was  fearful in appearance---wasps and hornets  lived in its Ivy and probably birds and other creatures BUT no one ever climbed it---------hence this tree  became the enemy in the eyes of us kids---so one day my friend and me  used a 2 man saw-----we felled it--this was a very  scary and exciting time as a kid---also the  whole neighborhood came out to watch in fear --I feel sad later in life that we did this act of destruction--sad for this old tree that we  viewed it on such a bad light--enough to want to fell it.......the field after looked empty  a huge space where once this great tree had once stood for years--King of the Field really ----a sad tale but one that I have never forgotten--a learning curve ---Remembering that  we had other trees we really loved like 'The Oak Tree'  and the Apple Trees---the Field was originally an orchard and  once  cows grazed here as well and there were old barns ,muddy ditches and  long summer grasses----so many tales from 'The Field'...many stories.....Just  snippet---.