A Sycamore Gap Tree: Honoring the Memory of a Young Boy with the Late British Maple

“Your greatest fear after the death of your child is that he will be forgotten” she testifies to the BBC.

Pay tribute and perpetuate the memory of your son

Ruth had this idea in mind for a long time now. A question persisted: which tree to choose? How can we carry out such a cause? It was then that Ruth approached the National Trust, a British non-profit association which is committed to the conservation and enhancement of monuments and sites of collective interest.

The association is in fact at the initiative of a commemorative movement in honor of the famous British tree Sycamore Gap, victim of an act of vandalism in September 2023. To compensate for its loss, “seedlings and transplants [ont été] successfully grown from seeds and young twigs saved from the felled tree”, as reported by the BBC.

Trees of Hope

These young trees, currently growing in a top secret greenhouse of the association, are nicknamed “trees of hope”. So, “49 saplings – one for each foot of the tree's height when it was felled – will be donated to communities across the country”, according to a press release issued by the association.

The town of Backwell, near Bristol, where Fergus lived, will therefore be the first to receive a Tree of Hope. It will be located “on a riverbank, overlooking an open green space”, a place where Fergus played cricket and passed on his way to school.

“ There is something special about the story of this new life that has been created at Sycamore Gap. It made me think of all the children affected by childhood cancer. And how they deserve so much better. They deserve a second chance in life”Ruth told the BBC.

The Sycamore Gap would show signs of life

Additionally, Fergus, like many British people, was familiar with the Sycamore Gap. As relayed by the British media, he and his father had planned to walk along Hadrian's Wall, in Northumberland, where the tree was located. However, this walk was first postponed due to the covid pandemic, then due to the young boy's diagnosis.

According to the National Trust, the Sycamore Gap is showing some signs of life: “From the base of the stump, 25 new shoots have emerged, giving hope that the tree will survive.” As relayed by France Info in its article, it was a maple tree more than two hundred years old, which had notably been immortalized in the film Robin Hood. It stood in the middle of two hills and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was even voted tree of the year in 2016.