Sycamore Gap

Please take a moment to read about this memorial.

You may have heard about the sad loss of this much-loved tree on Hadrian’s Wall.

The wood from the tree has been saved, and there is a competition run by the National Trust for how to make the best use of it in a fitting memorial. This will be partly decided by a public vote, and I would like to suggest one of the contenders and ask you to consider taking a moment to register your own vote for whichever option you believe is best.

I have no personal connection with any of the contestants, but this is a very meaningful place to me, and only one of the designs will provide a fitting and permanent memorial to this magnificent tree, near to the place where it once stood. It is this connection with the space that to me is so important.

I know this place very well, and the proposal for the wooden sculpture and the various displays that go with it by Helix Arts is in my opinion truly outstanding. It is the only option that sits well in the space, and provides what was lost when the tree was cut down. It will create a new and beautiful focus point, somewhere for people to return to with their memories, both shared and private, something that will return it to being a place of pilgrimage.

This is the only proposal that has the right feel to it is what I suppose I am struggling to put into words. What is currently such a sad place after such a callous act of vandalism, will once again become a place of memories and hope. That is what the design by Helix Arts captures, that the others do not, in my humble opinion anyway.

Those are my thoughts. Please have a look at the six proposals at https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/north-east/hadrians-wall-and-housesteads-fort/honouring-the-legacy-of-the-sycamore-gap-tree-a-new-creative-commission

Thank you.