Date: 25 January 2001
Originally published in: This is Cheshire website (UK)
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The Mayor of Warrington, Councillor Sheila Woodyatt, teamed up with ’80s icon Kim Wilde on Monday to play a part in record-breaking history. Developers Countryside Properties invited Clr Woodyatt to bear witness to the completion of a potentially record-setting tree transplant, a 58 foot high London plane was craned into position at Winwick Park. They are hoping the effort – which has been backed by ’80s pop wild child and born-again gardener Kim Wilde – will beat the existing world record for ‘the largest tree to be transplanted’, which involved a 100-year-old horse chestnut which measured 16m.
Countryside’s 60-year-old tree now stands where the historical Winwick Water Tower once stood and forms the centre-point of the new village square. It stands at 17.8m – or 58 feet – and has been transported from Belgium. It will grow to be around 150 feet tall and is expected to live for up to 250 years. Now it remains to be seen if the attempt will be successful in the eyes of the Guinness Book of Records.
Clr Woodyatt witnessed the positioning of the tree, which could be the final element of the project being a success. The developers need two witnesses to oversee the tree being planted to conform with the rules of a record attempt.