Marianne North; a Vision of Eden…

This is an update on a blog I wrote in the spring, about the Head teacher of Hastings Sacred Heart Catholic School, Joseph Hellet, and how he destroyed parts of a conservation area without proper consultation.  http://wp.me/ppAc3-1sv

The famous botanical artist Marianne North lived here in the mid 19th century and wrote a book called a Vision of Eden. Up till a little while ago, many of the trees she planted here were still standing and her former garden is part of a Conservation area.  These last few days her Eden has taken a further knock; the chainsaws have been ringing throughout the Conservation area, and the valley has been thick with smoke.

I  don’t know if the rare Turtle doves that used to live in this area will now move away for good.

This was taken around ten o’clock this morning…The residents of the Laurel’s nursing home have been covered in smoke all day…

This afternoon, I went to see what remained of the Turtle dove’s habitat and take some photographs of the site

I managed to snap this one before I was manhandled by the headmaster, Joe Hellet.
His involvement shocked me, as he had promised only a few month’s ago to consult the neighbours before he cut down any further trees. I asked him if he had forgotten his pledge to consult the neighbours and he replied that I wasn’t a neighbour! I made the comment that that was hardly a very Christian point of view and that I do actually live across the road from the school.

He said I wasn’t allowed to take photos, and he tried to grab my camera. Why, I asked, what was the problem if  he had permission from the Council? Why did he not want the tree to be photographed?

Do you recognize this hand!

Grappling with my camera…you can see my face mirrored in the Headmaster’s mobile phone

Joe Hellet pushed me about a bit, and I asked him to call the police, but he refused. He said I should call the police, but I  hadn’t brought my mobile . I said that I would be happy to leave the school area, but I was concerned that he was cutting down trees without the proper Council permissions and I wanted him to call the police to get the matter investigated.
He said that I was crazy and mad, and as he pushed me towards the exit I certainly must have looked demented! I was screaming ‘help, help, call the police! Someone call the police!’

Meanwhile these guys, who were previously busy half way up the tree with their chainsaws, filmed the spectacle on their mobile phones….I just hope they caught my best profile…
You can just about see the head teacher’s head in the top right corner and his arm as he is pushing me. There were four men against one woman. All jeering.

And as I came home, I called the police myself . And then I watched another pyre darken the sky. I wonder why he was in such
a hurry to burn the trees before they could be investigated by an independent tree surgeon.

The fires have been burning all day; the last picture was taken around 4 pm.
The reason I am writing this is that the newspapers are not interested and I haven’t a clue how to go about protecting the remaining trees without raising  public awareness about what we stand to loose.

www.annakeiller.com

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