The Happy Man Tree
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 Woodberry Down 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 - it proved one tree too many and 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', as it were, and avert any widespread negative publicity against the developer and Hackney Council. That didn't happen - locals were tipped off by a Council insider (huge respect to whoever that was!) and on the day 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 in cahoots. I filmed the campaign from beginning to end - across nine months - and when I couldn't be there other campaigners captured the action with their mobile phones and DSLR cameras and contributed their footage and photos to the film. In this sense the film was a collaborative production. It was a real privilege to spend time with the magnificent Happy Man Tree and its protectors and I made many new friends. It is always a huge privilege - a gift actually - when people allow you to film them and my mission as a filmmaker was to honour their efforts. I have always loved trees - see my etchings! - but 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 to human advancement.
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Have you ever fallen in love with a tree?
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