Irene's Tree in Richmond Park

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Today would have been Irene's birthday. In Richmond Park in south west London, at midday, Nellie and Monk joined together with 30 or so others to celebrate their love for Irene by planting a tree in her memory.

Irene was the freest of free spirits and Monk felt that the final resting place for her ashes should reflect this and he chose the hawthorn as the tree that best symbolised Irene's beauty and character. Like Irene, the hawthorn is beautiful, but strong, and generous and giving. It's one of the first trees to blossom in the spring with a mass of delicate white flowers that herald the end of winter. In the autumn, it produces lovely red berries that sustain birdlife during the cold months. Its botanical name, crataegus monogyna, derives from the Greek word meaning strength, describing the nature of its wood. The hawthorn is a very giving tree and supports a host of wildlife throughout the year.

The ceremony was beautiful and very moving. Adam Curtis, who is responsible for the trees in Richmond Park, talked about the hawthorn, his favourite tree, and recounted some of the folklore attached to it. Judith Roberts, the chaplain from Kingston Hospital, read the following prayers:

Holy God,
We thank you for the beauty of creation - for the gift of life and love.
We thank you for the joy of relationship, for intimacy, for connection.
We ask for your comfort at the wound of deep loss and separation.
In the beauty of our surroundings we learn to appreciate the profundity of life.

Holy God,
We thank you for the beauty of Richmond Park, the colour, the shapes, the sounds, the movement - particularly the trees in their individual loveliness as they stand sentinel to your eternal love and protection.

Holy God,
We thank you for the beauty of Irene - her strength and generosity - mirrored here in this hawthorn tree, which will stand forth in its glory, sustaining bird life and wild life and offering shade for rest and peace. Irene’s grace and spirit will continually nurture life and will give us peace and consolation.

Irene,
Your spirit remains here in the beauty of this tree, this place and in the hearts of those gathered here. Your beauty of body, mind and spirit rests now with God but inspires us continually.

Monk spread Irene's ashes around the roots of the tree and covered them with soil. Each of the others present then placed more soil around the tree as a demonstration of their love for Irene.

Irene adored budding daffodils and Monk would give them to her each year on her birthday. Monk laid thirty five budding daffodils against the tree - one for each wonderful year they'd shared together. Everybody then laid their flowers.

After the ceremony, the group retired to The Pottery restaurant for lunch. Irene and Monk regularly went to The Pottery, which is very close to their home.

Each year Irene would wish for snow on her birthday but Monk doesn't recall her wish ever coming true. During the afternoon, while everybody was in The Pottery celebrating Irene's life, it snowed.

Monk joined friends in the local pub later in the evening and on returning home didn't feel much inclined to go to bed too early. Scanning the TV guide, he noticed that a repeat of a 1977 'Old Grey Whistle Test' recording of Ry Cooder in concert was on BBC4 television so he turned on to watch it. Ry Cooder played 'Goodnight Irene'.

The Location of the Hawthorn Tree

The tree is still young and, until it's firmly established, it's protected from damage from deer by being enclosed in a wooden frame. It looks very healthy and is budding already. Monk hopes that we'll see a small display of flowers this year in April or May followed by some berries in the autumn. Thereafter, year by year, the display will increase.

Irene walked most days from Kingston Gate to Richmond Gate and back, and the tree is planted close to the path she would use. It overlooks Kingston Gate and the roads to Richmond and to Roehampton. Irene was a gregarious person and would have hated to be commemorated by a lone tree planted in an isolated part of the park. In its location, with other trees close by, including a number of other hawthorns, the tree has a commanding view of everything happening around Kingston Gate. Irene would have approved of the location.

It's a short walk from the car park at Kingston Gate. There is no plaque or other indication but Monk can describe the exact location if you contact him on [e-mail]. The park allows flowers to be placed near the tree but they do ask that all paper or plastic be removed and the flowers be tied with natural material such as raffia. Flowers placed inside the protective fencing of the tree are probably safe from deer. On the other hand, one might prefer that one's flowers became part of the park's ecosystem by laying them against the outside of the fence.

Some of the Folklore of the Hawthorn Tree

The hawthorn is also known as the May tree. It’s been venerated throughout history and has many associations in English folklore, and in both pagan and Christian legend - too numerous to mention but for a few.

The hawthorn was the basis of one of the letters of the Anglo-Saxon Runic alphabet and was the most frequently mentioned tree in Anglo-Saxon boundary charters. It’s also the most frequently mentioned tree in English place names.

The Maypole, the focal point of many May Day celebrations, evolved from the hawthorn tree whose blossoms are used in the celebrations.

The Christmas Thorn, or Holy Thorn, at Glastonbury is said to have grown from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea when he came to England with the Holy Grail after the Crucifixion. Exhausted by his journey, he thrust his staff into the ground and rested. By morning, his staff had taken root to become the sacred Glastonbury Thorn. The tree is said to flower at Christmas and at Easter, encompassing these two events in the life of Christ. Just before Christmas each year sprays from the trees which grow in St. John’s churchyard in Glastonbury are sent to the Queen, and formerly the Queen Mother. The Queen reputedly places the spray on her breakfast table on Christmas morning.

The leaves and red berries have been eaten since time immemorial as ‘bread and cheese’ - the leaves being the bread and the berries the cheese. There are many medicinal uses of the leaves and berries.

The old expression "Ne'er cast a clout till May be out" or “Cast ne’er a clout ere May is out” advises one not to discard winter clothing before the May tree is in bloom.

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 mentions the ‘darling buds’ of the hawthorn tree.

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.


Extract from The Forest Minstrel by William Howitt (1792-1879)

The beautiful hawthorn, that has now put on
Its summer luxury of snowy wreaths;
Bending its branches in exuberant bloom,
While to the light enamour'd gale it breathes,
Rife as its loveliness, its rare perfume:
Glory of England's landscape! Favourite tree
Of bard and lover! it flings, far and free,
Its grateful incense: whether you arise
To catch the first long sun-gleam in the skies,
And list the earliest bird-notes; whether you
Linger amidst the twilight and the dew —
There, through the silent air its odour strays,
Sweet as in home-scenes of your earliest days.


The Hawthorn Tree by Nathan Haskell Dole (1852-1935)

At the edge of the hedge is a Hawthorn Tree,
And its blossoms are sweet as sweet can be,
And the bees are humming there all the day,
And these are the words that I hear them say:
Sweet, sweet is the Hawthorn Tree!

All the breezes that breathe o’er those blossoms rare
A burden of perfume happily bear;
And the songsters revel there all day long,
And these are the words of their merry song:
Sweet, sweet is the Hawthorn Tree!

And a maid and her lover wander by
As the twilight glories fade and die;
And they pause neath the fragrant boughs to rest,
And above them sways the robin's nest:
Sweet, sweet is the Hawthorn Tree!

We too, they whisper, shall soon build a home
Neath the azure arch of the infinite dome;
And we, all the day, shall sing like the birds,
But with deeper meaning in music and words:
Sweet, sweet is the Hawthorn Tree!

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Comments

[Sylvia and Geoff]

Darling buds of May
Dear Alan, With your darling Irene now at rest and your travels accomplished we hope that you too will find peace. The birds will always sing loudest round Irene's tree! Take care, with love Sylvia and Geoff xxxx