KATY McGAHAN
 

In 2020 I became involved in a campaign to save a 150-year-old London Plane tree in Stoke Newington,

north London, a few minutes cycle from where I live. Scores of mature trees had already been felled

in and around Woodberry Down Estate - Ash, Elm, Lime, and many an Oak - by a leading housing

developer as part of their ongoing 30-year redevelopment of the massive housing estate. When local

people found out that a huge, much-loved 150-year-old London Plane street tree - which even had its

own name, the Happy Man Tree - was marked for felling, they started a campaign to try to save it.

Within days the "Save the Happy Man Tree" petition had reached 10,000 signatures. 

 

A week after the protest had begun contractors were sent in to fell the tree. Seemingly the plan was to

'nip it in the bud' and avert widespread negative publicity against the developer and Hackney

Council. Fortunately, that didn't happen. Locals had been tipped off by a Council insider (huge respect

to whoever that was!) and on the morning that the contractors came for the tree local people had

already gathered around it and managed to protect it from the clutches of the chainsaw.

 

A bitter legal battle ensued between the peaceful protestors and the housing developer and Hackney

Council who were clearly in cahoots. I filmed the campaign over nine months, from beginning to

the end, and when I couldn't be there other campaigners filmed what was going on with their mobile

phones and DSLR cameras and contributed their footage and photos to the film. It was a real privilege

to spend time in the company of The Happy Man Tree and its protectors and put in shifts to protect it.

I made many friends over the course of the campaign.

​

It is always a huge privilege when people allow you to film them - I regard it as a gift of trust. My mission

as a filmmaker was to honour the efforts of the campaigners and show audiences what it is like

to be an environmental activist from the inside out at grassroots level. Nearly all of the people I filmed

were local residents who weren't affiliated to any formal environmental organisation. 

 

I have always loved trees  - see my etchings - and being part of this campaign really deepened my

connection with these majestic life-giving plants. It also made me realise just how important peaceful

direct action is and has been to human advancement. 

​

Making this film was a real challenge in that I had to more or less learn everything myself 'on-the-fly' -

directing, cinematography, producing, sound recording, and editing - but for that reason it was a

great opportunity to really develop my practical skills.

 

The film is currently touring UK cinemas as part of the Green Screen Network, an initiative on the part

of Picturehouse cinemas to encourage cinemas across the UK to show more environmental films.

We organise NoticeThisTree events around screenings. It's a lovely way of getting to know local

people in places we bring the film.

 

For more information on NoticeThisTree project follow this link: https://www.noticethistree.org/
 

And if you would like to organise a screening of The Happy Man Tree please do get in touch. 

​

 

​