Elm Tree Planting Ceremony with Andrea Leadsom MP, All Saints Church, Croughton

Andrea Leadsom MP was guest of honour and was an incredibly good sport getting stuck in with the planting aided enthusiastically by children from Croughton All Saints primary school. Despite the freezing temperatures, the ceremony drew a large crowd and was a huge success.

A huge Elm tree had stood on the same site outside the gates of Norman All Saints Church, for many hundreds of years. When Dutch Elm Disease struck in the 1970's the tree succumbed, but the massive trunk remained until earlier this year when it was deemed unsafe and finally had to be dug up.

It was such a much loved feature of the village, Croughton Parish Council set about trying to find a disease resistant replacement. This didn't prove easy, until Hilliers Nurseries stepped in and donated us a young 'Resista' Elm tree. A new Dutch Elm resistant species, the result of 30 years of combined research between the US and UK. How lucky are we?We very much hope this new tree too will be here to mark the passage of time as long as the last.