Surrey Hills Society has announced the completion of its collaborative project to create a book entitled ‘The Thousand Year Tree’ that tells the story through time of Surrey’s ancient trees.
It is the culmination of a year-long project to bring a bud of an idea to maturity working with local author, Lucy Reynolds and Katie Hickey, illustrator.
The Society successfully sought funding from Defra’s Access for All fund with the help of the Surrey Hills National Landscape Board and have been involved at every step of the creative process to bring this book to publication.
One of Surrey Hills Society’s core aims is conservation. A mature tree may look majestic and strong but it is fragile if not cared for in the right way. This book seeks to highlight that.
The group brought a local Guildford school, Weyfield Primary Academy, to visit and learn about the ancient yews at Newlands Corner and how we need to look after them to ensure their future.
This was followed up by a series of workshops where the children’s amazing creativity inspired most of the illustrations and words to co-create the book.
Luke, aged 9, one of the pupils involved at Weyfield Primary Academy said: “I liked when we looked at the yew trees, described them and all the great work everyone did at the workshops.”
A competition was then launched through Surrey Libraries’ network to engage all young people aged 4 to 11 across Surrey to submit a design for the endpapers of the book. The four winners have received a copy of the printed book.
Old Dungate Press have generously printed 1,000 copies of the book that are on sale at Haslemere Bookshop, please follow the link to order online.
Any profits from sales go towards Surrey Hills Society for future conservation work and ‘Access for All’ projects.
Copies will be given to local Surrey schools and each of Surrey’s 52 libraries will have a copy to borrow.
