Horror turns to delight over village's '˜millennium' trees

Dismay has turned to delight over a group of '˜millennium' trees which were ripped out to make way for a new car park at a local garage.
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Five Oaks resident Anne Stevenson and head of business at Harwood Luke Sanson with one of the newly planted trees.ks16001227-2 SUS-161128-163740008ks16001227-2 Five Oaks Oaks phot kate

Five Oaks resident Anne Stevenson and head of business at Harwood Luke Sanson with one of the newly planted trees.ks16001227-2 SUS-161128-163740008
ks16001227-2 Five Oaks Oaks phot kate Five Oaks resident Anne Stevenson and head of business at Harwood Luke Sanson with one of the newly planted trees.ks16001227-2 SUS-161128-163740008

Anne Stevenson helped to plant the trees in a field near Harwoods Garage in Five Oaks, Billingshurst, in 2000 to mark the millennium - and she was horrified when she discovered they had recently been removed.

“I was so upset,” said Anne. “They were big fat oaks, nearly 20 years old.”

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But Harwoods staff acted quickly when they realised what had happened - and set about re-planting new trees.

Harwoods’ head of business Luke Sanson said: “We were having a car park built on an old field. Consultation went on for some time over the building works. Eventually, the builders ripped out the original trees.

“As soon as Anne made us aware of what had happened we looked into it, and we were happy to re-plant them.”

Anne added: “Harwoods were really great. They were really really kind and quick. I am thrilled. I was upset but Harwoods have been fantastic.”

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Anne planted the original trees with farmer Chris Rollings. “It was my little effort for the millennium,” she said. “I had thought ‘where are the five oaks in Five Oaks?’ - so we planted them.

“When they dug them up it was to my absolute horror, but these new trees are even taller which is great.”

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