At one with the yew tree

When I discovered that Kate had moved to Tiree from Glasgow, I asked her “How do you feel about living on Tiree where there are so few trees?  Having grown up in such a leafy area?” Kate said: “I do miss them.  I feel that being around trees, experiencing trees, is a fundamental part of being a human being.  When we moved to Tiree and I realised there was a tree at our house I was really pleased!  We’ve got a tree!”

This is Kate’s poignant tree story, beginning with remembering how her little brother James loved to play in a yew tree.

When I was little I went to Pollok Park all the time with my siblings.  We used to go and visit every weekend.

I was 16 when my little brother James was born.  We grew to be very close – perhaps because of the age gap – and spent lots and lots of time together.  When James was about 8 or 9 years old he was playing in a yew tree in the park, and he was excited to find that there were all these letters, folded and tucked into nooks within the tree.  He took them all out and read them, one by one, before folding them up again and carefully replacing them in their wee places amongst the tree.

James loved that yew tree – it became his spiritual home and he loved spending time in it, sitting in its branches.

Very sadly, James died when he was only 21.

We scattered his ashes under the yew tree, so that he can become part of the tree that he loved, through the roots and the soil.  I love the thought of him being at one with the tree now.

We still go back to visit the yew tree.  We’ve kept the allotment too, though my sister looks after it now as it’s too big a job for my dad to maintain himself.  Although various developments have since taken place in the park close by the tree – putting in new cycle paths and things like that – the park have looked after the yew tree and have protected it.