THANK you very much for publishing my letter and photo about the missing trees planted in 1976 by the Men of the Trees.

I had about seven calls from local people, including the widow of Denis Hull - I mentioned him in my letter.

The trees were moved from the site that is now the Crowndale depot, and replanted in a riverside park at Bovey Tracey, together with a plaque about their origins.

I gather Crowndale was the best site for the depot, and nowhere else in Tavistock could be found for the trees.

Mrs Jean Metcalf

Gratton Lane

Yelverton

MRS Metcalfe?s letter (February 20) stirred memories of 20 years ago. The trees she planted were at an arboretum created to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Men of the Trees in 1974 at a site alongside the rubbish dump at Crowndale in the valley of the River Tavy near Tavistock.

Always a curious choice for the positioning of such an important showpiece collection for the organisation, it had its comeuppance in March 1981 when Devon County Council decided to extend the tip and take over the land.

All was not lost as Dennis Hull, then national chairman of the Men of the Trees, who lived at Abbotsfield, Tavistock, negotiated a ?river garden? plot at Bovey Tracey as a replacement.

Ever the optimist, Mr Hull, who was a tireless worker and publicist for the Men of the Trees, said at the time: ?It will be our Diamond Jubilee next year so we are naming the Bovey Tracey collection after that.?

The Crowndale site was always ill-starred. Only a few years after most of the trees were planted, the drought of 1976 killed off many. And the land, which I think was reclaimed from an earlier tip, was hard going. ?We have had to use a pick axe and shovel to plant them all,? said Mr Hull at the time.

Over the years more than 200 trees were planted at Crowndale and in spite of some failures around 100 were moved to Bovey Tracey in 1984.

There were also plans to retain some of them in Tavistock. It was planned that a giant sequoia planted by the Rev Richard Gilpin, then vicar of Tavistock, to mark the town?s millennium celebrations, would be moved to a site in Tavistock. I?m not sure where.

And the Lions were given the go ahead to plant some of the trees at children?s play areas. Maybe at the old swimming pool in Bannawell Street?

There, I?m afraid, the trail goes cold.

Whether all these plans came to fruition I do not know. Maybe somebody else can help.

John Powell

Hurdwick Road

Tavistock