I HAVE enjoyed looking after the Scouts' Memorial Gardens in Peoples' Park for over 12 years, and have become fond (as gardeners do) of many of the plants growing there.

Probably my favourite has been the mature Lime tree growing at the East end like a protective guardian overlooking the garden beds and park.

On innumerable occasions I have scurried under its leafy protective canopy to keep dry when it has started raining.

I have carefully trimmed its branches overhanging the footpaths to provide adequate headroom for passing dog walkers, and this created 'tree tunnels' for passers-by to walk through.

In December for a few years I have liaised with Father Christmas and local children to festoon these tunnels and nearby bushes with decorative Christmas baubles, and have loved seeing parents with excited children in pushchairs passing through while their children point up and try to count them.

Children used to run around playing hide and seek in the shade amongst its low hanging branches and they used to love climbing up into its welcoming boughs.

It was therefore a huge shock on March 5, having heard a commotion coming from the park, to walk down and find tree surgeons cutting up the remains of my beloved tree which they had just felled.

I was dismayed that a tree which had been growing there for so long had been destroyed within a few minutes by individuals who had no idea that it was enjoyed and appreciated by so many people.

A Crediton Town Council spokesperson explained that a 'tree specialist' had considered it to be 'not a good specimen' and 'in poor condition', and had recommended its destruction.

I presume that because it did not conform to the stereotypic symmetrical lollipop tree shape depicted by young children in their pictures the tree 'expert' felt it had to go.

From the diameter of its severed stump I suspect that it had been growing there for as many years as I've been living, and I have little doubt that it would have continued growing there for as many years again if it had been left alone.

If I had been warned about its imminent demise I would have begged for it to be spared and retained as a characterful landmark in the park.

I would also have taken a couple of photographs of it as a reminder. Unfortunately I am left with just two photos of it.

Luckily one shows happy children climbing on it. Sadly the other just shows its severed stump in a large empty space now devoid of any interesting feature.

It was a sad day for me to see my old friend the Lime tree gone, and at the age of 76 I suppose that I could also be described as 'not a good specimen', and 'in poor condition', and so maybe I should be consigned to the rubbish heap along with my old friend, and not be seen in the park again!

Mike Turnbull

Crediton