Poet Laureate plants misleading idea - CVTS responds

His "Marsden" piece with heady phrase
Contains some "bollocks" Simon says.
"Clean air 's the cause of trees returning".
But there's a hole in t' poet's learning.
In t' main they're back you silly "b"...
By dint of our Society!

Simples!

Down on the farm

This week we were at Outlane, reinforcing a farmland shelter belt. We planted 510 Hawthorn, 45 Hazel, and 15 Hornbeam.

We were: myself, Elliot, Hannah, Dave, Geoff, Cath, Dianne, Jess, Lee, Adrian, Peter, Richard, Jon, Stephen, Philip, Ben, and Bob.

Cake was a weighty Bakewell tart.

Farms are great, if only they weren't all so muddy.

https://youtu.be/EsBFGHpzDhg

Peace frog

Those trees don't "spring up" by themselves.

Poet laureate Simon Armitage had an article in the Guardian today, in which he said:

"The moors themselves are greener and trees have sprung up even beyond the recognised "tree line" - a consequence of climate change and reductions in chimney smoke and soot".

That sentence appeared in the online version, but was mysteriously absent from the print version of the article.

In any case, while this was being read with the morning croissants, the good folk of Colne Valley Tree Society were out planting 105 hawthorn and 70 oak, aspen and rowan in a shelter belt a the top end of Marsen golf course. Given that he is a Marsden lad, and attended Colne Valley High School, where a number of teachers were members of the Society, and pupils were often roped in to do tree planting, it is a bit of a stretch to believe that the doesn't know we exist, or that he doesn't know that the Society has planted more than 350,000 trees and shrubs in the valley since 1964. Maybe we just don't fit with his mythology.

So the not at all mythological volunteers were: myself, Philip, Dave, Geoff, Adrian, Hap, Richard, Ian, Alison, Paul, Steve, Stephen, Remy, Jon, Bob, Ben, Dianne, Jess and Lee.

Dianne found a plastic frog while digging, so this week's tune is....

https://youtu.be/z7pCD827wB4

Still life with cat skull and plastic frog, and Hap in the middle.

Band à parte

Left leaning photographers, Tanya and Geoff

Circumstances saw us flung to far corners of the valley this week.

Myself, Tanya, Geoff, Alison, Paul, Jess and Dianne went to Scammonden and scavenged 80 stakes and 50 guards, plus did some tidying up as preparation for planting 500 oaks with the Green Building Store people in a couple of weeks.

Dave, Richard, Bob, Steve, Simon, Elliot, Hannah, Polly, Alastair and Jared went to Green Edge and planted 245 Hawthorn. Then they went to Parkwood, planted 2 memorial yew and straightened a load of storm tossed tree guards. It looked very muddy.

Philip, Susan, Stephen and Adrian were at Marsden Golf course, thinning trees and preparing for interplanting with some new oaks.

Cake was carrot.

Not so much a song, as a musical clip this week.

https://youtu.be/O4TYQkkAvk8