BIG TREES FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW<\/span><\/p>\n Can you recall what you were doing and where you were, when the dreadful tragedy of 9\/11 occurred? It shook the world, and anyone watching the event on TV could hardly believe their eyes when the second plane hit the second Tower. It was so very hard to comprehend the scale of the tragedy, the loss of life, the fear that it might happen again…in USA or anywhere else in the world.<\/p>\n Over the years, even those here with no close ties in USA have been affected in some small way by this monstrous evil, even those in our quiet village. My younger son, Mark Roberts, grew up in Wenvoe, but later went to London to work, and became a TV cameraman for a Japanese News TV Company called TV Asahi. He filmed crime scenes, everyday dramas, earthquakes, floods etc all over the world, recording visually interviews by his colleagues of all sorts of people in all sorts of situations.<\/p>\n Soon after 9\/11, Mark and the TV Asahi team, flew out to Toronto with BBC, ITN and other news teams, as all US airports were closed. They travelled straight down to New York by coach, and as they approached New York, they saw U.S. F-16 fighter planes circling the sky, in fear of a repetition of the Twin Towers disaster, a chilling sight. The area around the disaster was a scene of total devastation, but the news crews had to speak to anyone at the scene for their thoughts and comments. I asked him later if he felt intrusive and voyeuristic, filming people’s raw emotions and grief and anger, and he said simply “The world has to know, Mum”.<\/p>\n The following March, I visited USA on a Travelsphere tour of the Canyons, ending up in Las Vegas, with my friend, the late Mrs Maureen Hunt, whom many of you will remember. (We had booked the holiday long before 9\/11). We sat having a coffee one day in Las Vegas opposite the New York, New York Hotel, and noticed a long line of people, with their backs to us, seemingly examining the wall around the hotel, so we went to investigate. We found a small, temporary, improvised Memorial had been set up, with mementoes from the Twin Towers, photos of the site of Ground Zero, letters and poems, even photos of some of those killed. It really brought all the memories rushing back, and we were both deeply touched by this humble display, and the solemnity of the long line of locals and tourists paying their respects.<\/p>\n More recently, many of you, like me, admired plants etc at the Wenvoe Open Gardens Event, and I was fascinated by the oak tree sapling grown by Mr Mike Tucker in his greenhouse. He explained that it had been grown by Mr Bruce McDonald, who, about 6 years ago, had collected some acorns from the Memorial Site at Ground Zero which had literally hundreds of these Swamp White Oak trees growing there. After checking it was (at that time) not illegal to bring them into UK, Bruce brought a few home to plant in pots. Only 2 “took” and Bruce gave 1 each to 2 friends, one of whom was our green-fingered Mike! He has nursed it tenderly ever since, and it looked very healthy when we saw it in June. The conditions at Ground Zero seem to suit the swamp oak tree , but it refuses to grow in many places so it is odd that it has settled in Wenvoe! Val Roberts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n BIG TREES FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW Can you recall what you were doing and where you were, when the dreadful tragedy of 9\/11 occurred? It shook the world, and anyone watching the event on TV could hardly believe their eyes when the second plane hit the second Tower. It was so very hard to comprehend the scale of the tragedy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3uK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9069,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9069","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":0},"title":"Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st February 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow 'Mighty oaks from little acorns grow' and we have many fine oaks in the Parish. The recent decision to remove two of the immature oaks on the Upper Orchid Field has prompted some questions on the best ways to promote and enhance biodiversity. So,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Picture3a.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10616,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10616","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":1},"title":"What, No Acorns?\u00a0","author":"Alan Williams","date":"19th November 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"What, No Acorns?\u00a0 Have you noticed the lack of acorns this year? Robert Reader got in touch as he had noticed they were few and far between combined with large amounts of the husks of conkers lying around. So, what are the squirrels up to? Last year, 2020, was a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Picture2-219x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9602,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9602","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":2},"title":"Oak Apple Day","author":"Alan Williams","date":"6th May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Saturday 29th May is Oak Apple Day so don't forget to celebrate our wonderful oak trees. Take the time to admire them, give them a hug, write a poem about them or paint or photograph them. If you have children, make sure they can identify an oak with its very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Oak-apple-stock-1-300x258.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6118,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6118","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":3},"title":"The Ongoing Felling Of Trees","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th June 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 It is with great sadness I witness The Ongoing Felling Of Trees in and around our lovely village. When nature itself wields the axe there is little to do but acknowledge the circle of life and the safe removal of the fallen tree that inevitably follows is also a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8110,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8110","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":4},"title":"My Trip To Tanzania","author":"Alan Williams","date":"14th August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"My Trip To Tanzania Hi! Hope everyone\u2019s well. Just wanted to say a thank you once again to everyone that supported me in the run up to my trip to Tanzania. I came back a month earlier than planned because of the current situation with Covid 19, however the month\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8363,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8363","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":5},"title":"Community Orchards Resurgence","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th October 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"NATURE NOTES Community Orchards Resurgence With 5 Community Orchards in the parish we are starting to reclaim some of the ground lost through the wholesale removal of orchards over the last hundred years. In this and future articles we shall consider the origin of orchards, the history of their rise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture5.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture5.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture5.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture5.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13438"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13440,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13438\/revisions\/13440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nThe plant certainly brought back many sad memories, and I am sure we all hope that the wars in Ukraine, Syria and Sudan will soon be over and that peace will prevail.
\nThank you for reading this. and perhaps you could tell us of your experiences?<\/p>\n
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