Page 10 - Autumn 2 2024 English-

Education manager and
Tim: officer for Wrexham

I have lots of favourite trees, but I see this one
on my street every day. It’s a big oak, and it’s
older than anything around it – any road, any
building, in fact anything manmade. I love
imagining all the changes it has seen through
time.

Kylie: Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent

The elder is my favourite tree, said to have
magical properties to ward off evil, whilst
being resilient enough to grow anywhere
from woodland to waste ground. The Elder is
an ancient tree whose fruits and flowers are
fragrant and can be edible when prepared
correctly.

Laura: Powys
The mighty Oak has to be my favourite tree.
Something about the way their leaves grow to full
size, even on the tiniest of saplings, fills me with
joy and reminds me that power, possibility and
potential grow; even in the smallest packages.
And I’m not alone; Oak trees have spread their
roots through human history, ancient Romans,
Greeks and Celtic Druids are all said to have
worshipped the oak. This is reflected in the Welsh
word for oak, ‘derw’, which derives from the same
etymological source as ‘druid’.