THE felling of a much-loved piece of artwork in the grounds of Frome College has been labelled as “bureaucratic vandalism,” but the college says the tree sculpture was a health and safety concern and its legacy will live on.
‘Last Tree Dreaming’ was a 60-foot tall sculpture erected in Frome College’s main playing field by Bath Road, in 2016.
More than £50,000 was raised by young people for the art project, which involved around 500 young people, working in collaboration with local artists, to carve their “dreams and aspirations” into an ancient tree, which fell during a gale in Stourhead in January 2013. The tree was sourced from an area planted by renowned landscape painter J. M. W. Turner in 1798.
But the iconic sculpture was felled and cut into pieces earlier this month by the college, after it was claimed by a local authority report that it was suffering from decomposition.
The original artists involved in the project say that they were given no warning of the decision to fell the sculpture and have said that an engineer connected to the original project believes that the tree was “100% safe” on the day it was cut down.
Somerset County Council has explained that its report regarding the condition of the tree was advisory, and that the college was presented with two options – one that involved keeping the tree with “some mitigation measures”. But the final decision was made by the college, who have said that they aim to “reshape” the iconic piece of work.
Artist Barry Cooper said, “We now know that it was condemned in ‘The Tree Risk and Safety Report’ dated 6th May 2021 and the report was released to Frome College on 18th June 2021. The college had almost three months to inform the team, who could have advised on a safe way to preserve the students’ work.
“Grant Gellatly, the engineer responsible for this iconic timber construction has since visited the site and confirms that, in his opinion, the sculpture was 100% safe on the day it was cut down. Grant was the project manager for the Frome bypass in 1989 and in recent years has worked internationally as a consultant arbitrator for large scale engineering disputes. “
“When we have the full facts and if the sculpture is found to have been entirely sound at the time it was cut down, we feel the duty of care has not been fulfilled by those responsible for the decision.
“If this is the case, we also feel it is most certainly morally incumbent on them to provide full financial restitution for this act. A new sculpture should be commissioned on the site; one which honours the past history of the work, fully recognises the deed that was done on September 11th 2021, and creates a lasting and healing piece appropriately addressing the catastrophic environmental issues of our time. Local young people should again lead this project; the Last Tree Dreaming team would be enabled to facilitate this endeavour.”
When approached by Frome Times, Frome College declined to comment. However, at last week’s Frome Town Council meeting, Frome College principal, Emma Reynolds, was quizzed by councillors about the felling of the sculpture.
She explained that the sculpture had been identified as a health and safety risk to students and staff. She also reassured councillors that the college intends to “celebrate” the tree and use it for an art project, involving local artists, over the 2021/22 academic year.
“I’ve had a really good conversation with Barry Cooper last week about how we now move the tree into the next part of its life,” said the college’s principal, “so that’s about celebrating the artwork that’s around the tree.
“I think also it’s an opportunity to allow the students to access the sculpture because actually it’s now on ground level and so what we have noticed is that a lot of students have shown a great deal of interest at break and at lunchtime – they’ve been able to go much closer to it and look at the artwork there.”
A Somerset County Council spokesperson said, “The Tree and Risk Safety service provided by our Support Services for Education Team is advisory only, and bought by education providers. Any decision on what action to take, when to carry it out, and who to inform is made by them, not by our service.
“Our role is to assess the structural integrity of trees, alive or dead, and make a judgement based on the risk to students and staff and suggest options to the education provider.
“In this instance we stand by the concerns flagged by the team, but to be clear, removal was one of two suggested options – an option to keep the tree with some mitigation measures was also suggested.
“The school has a duty of care to students, staff and visitors and decided to take action to remove the risk. We support them in that decision.”
