THE Blackdown and Hindhead National Trust Supporters Group held an inspiring, illuminating and informative evening in Haslemere Museum, when an enraptured capacity audience listened to Julian Hight share his passion for trees.

Julian is the author of two books ‘Britain’s Tree Story’ and ‘World Tree story’ and he introduced us to some of the world’s largest, oldest and most famous trees, he had encountered firstly around Britain and then the world over.

He showed photos of a hollow oak in Sherwood forest with a girth of 10.5 metres, and another, equally large, in Lincolnshire, which had been pollarded over the years for firewood.

Using trees sustainably began many centuries ago.

The 400-year-old Queen Elizabeth oak in Cowdray Park is so called, because the queen used to hunt there.

Did you know that there are only two indigenous oak species in Britain but more than 80 in the USA, or that the oak can have 300 years of youth, 300 of maturity and 300 years decaying?

The oldest yew in Britain at Fortingall, in Perthshire, is between 3,000 and 5,000 years old, but closer to home is the ancient yew forest at Kingley Vale, West Stoke near Chichester, and the remains of the ancient yew tree at Selborne, referred to by Gilbert White and probably dating back several centuries.

The tree fell in the 1990 storm.

Leaving Britain, Julian travelled to the Kauri forest in New Zealand, which is sacred to the Maoris, to Sardinia and a 2,000-year-old olive tree, to Sicily to see a chestnut on the slopes of Mount Etna, where lava can be seen on either side of the trunk and the story goes that the tree is protected by spirits.

In Crete there is a 300-year-old olive tree, a branch of which is used to start the Olympics.

Julian then visited California to look at the sequoia forests and the 5,000 year-old bristle cone pines, then to Japan to see a 2,000 year-old cherry tree, thought to survive because of the spirit in the tree.

His enthusiasm was palpable, and the audience could imagine him trekking miles, with his rucksack on his back to a remote corner of a country to stand in awe, and enjoy and experience the power and strength of a tree.

It was a memorable evening.

PHILLY HALL