A MOMENTOUS 100ft tree which shaped part of Beckenham’s history will live on for years to come – despite being felled by the winds in the wintry storms.
The cedar tree was planted in Wickham Road in 1897 and was one of the trees which led to the adjacent house being called Cedar Lawn.
And part of Kelsey Park is known locally as Cedar Lawn after part of Cedar Lawn’s garden was bought by the council in 1933 to extend the park.
But people in the area are now having to come to terms with one of the trees no longer being there after it crashed down in the early hours of Christmas Eve, narrowly missing the Grade II listed building.
When Donna Fry woke to find a lot of branches in her garden she first thought the willow tree had fallen down and then realised it was the cedar.
The mother-of-three said: “It was a massive shock.
“I went out in my pyjamas and wellies and three of us were crying.
“It’s been the focal point of the garden is now cedar-less.”
Mrs Fry, 47, says she is intending to either have part of the trunk made into a sculpture or a bench and put in the garden where the tree stood for 116 years.
“We’re about to chop it up and I’m intending to make something out of the tree.
“It’s just left a huge void in the garden which needs to be filled, it’s part of the history.”
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