Hartley Row News

The Ancient Oak

It is understood that the Ancient Oak featured in the September 2016 issue of the Contact Magazine is rotting from the inside and would be a hazard should it fall onto Fleet Road. The tree has suffered from the proximity of the adjacent Red Oak, a rapidly growing tree native to North America which needs ample space to grow. The Ancient Oak provides a habitat for wild life such as jackdaws, bats, insects, fungi etc and could continue to be useful in that role. Hart District Council Countryside Rangers are awaiting the results of an ecological survey on the ancient oak. A possible solution would be to move the tree to Hunts Common and placing it upright strapped to three live and sturdy trees with strong webbing. An alternative would be to rest the tree on the ground near to where it currently stands providing a natural habitat for wild life and insects.

Your opinions on the proposal to move it to Hunts Common would be welcome.

Update - 14 March 2017

The tree has enough rot in the base and roots that there was a risk of it falling into Fleet Road. However by reducing it we have removed the weight from the top that would have caused it to fall in this direction. The Tree Officer is happy that in it's current state it is more evenly weighted and so the risk of it falling into the road has been reduced enough to allow us to retain the tree for it's heritage and wildlife value. We also reduced the tree to it's current height so that we could maintain the majority of the valuable habitat, specifically the large active Jackdaw nest.

Once again the Village Festival was very well attended and there was a steady stream of visitors to the Society's stand.  We recruited four new members and handed out over 80 copies of the Festival Quiz. If you didn't manage to pick up a copy of the quiz you can download one from here for your enjoyment. The answers can be found here.

On Sunday, 21 February 2016 an Ornamental Pear tree (Pyrus Chanticleer) was planted in memory of Sue Hawkins, our Chair, who tragically died whilst on Snowdonia on 27 May 2015. The tree is in the raised bed outside the former NatWest bank in Hartley Wintney High Street.

Sue’s daughter and son were joined by their children and members of the family who had travelled from Essex and Sussex to attend the ceremony.

John Sage, Treasurer of the Society, thanked Hartley Wintney Parish Council for supporting the Preservation Society's request for the memorial tree and Hampshire County Council for providing the tree and helping with the planting arrangements.

Approximately 60 people were present at the ceremony, an expression of the high regard that Sue was held in by everyone who knew her.

The Society was founded on 14 January 1966.  Happy 50th Anniversary!

A celebration is planned for Saturday 25 June 2016 at the Victoria Hall, Hartley Wintney from 7.00 pm. 

Read about how it all began in the Hartley Row Journal for Spring 1996.