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Odds On Saving Historic East Cowes Umbrella Tree Get Shorter

Umbrella Tree

The odds on saving East Cowes’s favourite tree have just got a lot shorter.

After fearing a £5,000 plus bill to build a safety frame around the town’s Umbrella Tree, campaigners to save the tree now hope they have found a cheaper solution.

Chris Gutteridge, one of the Friends of the Umbrella Tree, and whose great-grandfather originally planted the tree during the reign of Queen Victoria, spoke to a structural engineer from Island Roads who cleared up the matter.

He said:

“The engineer said the design he sent was only a suggestion and the £5,000 cost was only an estimate.

“This means we can go ahead and get our own structural engineer and, with a bit of luck, build on the existing frame, which is what we have been pushing for this whole time.”

Chris said he was over the moon when he heard the news as the group have started a fundraising campaign to raise the money, as no other public body will pay for the work.

A socially-distanced meeting was held with performances from local musicians and the debut performance of Steve Love’s Umbrella Tree Song. 

More than £100 was raised to add to the online GoFundMe campaign, gofundme.com/f/umbrella-tree, which means £1,300 has been raised for the new frame.

The campaigners now hope they can move forward and find another structural engineer who can draw up plans.

Tanja Rebel, an environmental campaigner, said the drive was going in the right direction.

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