One hundred volunteers are needed
Lime Aid chairman Dr Martyn Stenning, right, thanks Clearwater director Mr Steven Neilly for offering to fund clearance of felled trees in Lime Tree Avenue ready for re-planting with saplings. Looking on is landowner Jeff Brooks.
One hundred volunteers are sought to join a task day to help clear undergrowth in an historic tree-lined avenue in Uckfield.
A similar task day in Lime Tree Avenue last year was a great success but the organisers are hoping that each tree needing attention will have its own ‘carer’ this time, on November 29.
Already two high profile volunteers have been recruited, Wealden MP Charles Hendry and Uckfield Mayor Louise Eastwood.
The chairman of Lime Aid, an organisation working to restore the avenue, Dr Martyn Stenning said: ‘I feel that Lime Tree Avenue is often taken for granted, but it is an exceptionally valuable row of mature lime trees that we should all value as a green lung within the heart of Uckfield.
‘I am extremely grateful to our MP and Mayor for volunteering to help the community take responsibility for these trees so that they can be preserved for future generations. Unless we do something now they will gradually die or get blown over and be lost for all time.
Ensure survival
‘We seek to rejuvenate the trees, replace lost ones and ensure their survival. The task day will also be great fun, and contribute to the fitness and well-being of the volunteers. Please join us on November 29.’
Volunteers need to bring their own loppers and secateurs and a pair of gloves to protect their hands and then they will be able to trim back the epicormic growth, or suckers from the bottom of a tree. This will encourage healthy growth at the top of the tree and help prevent die-back.
On the same day saplings are to be planted to replace dangerous poplars felled in the avenue earlier this year after one crashed across the entrance to the Uckfield Community Technology College, narrowly missing a car driving on to the site. Principal Mr Craig Pamphilon, who has since retired, ran out to stop the car just in time.
Uckfield developer Clearwater is contributing to the project by offering to fund grinding of the remaining tree stumps, clearance of the land and rotovation in preparation for replanting.
Significant difference
Clearwater director Mr Steven Neilly said: ‘Clearwater has been associated with a sizeable amount of development in Uckfield and on the Manor Park Estate in particular and is very pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to a local project which will benefit the whole community.’
Dr Stenning, who is an ecologist at the University of Sussex and an Uckfield resident, said: ‘This is a fantastic example of a local company helping to improve the community.
‘I hope that with the kind help of Clearwater we can make a significant difference to that end of the avenue and contribute to the elegance of the entrance to Uckfield Community Technology College.’
The next meeting of Lime Aid, due to take place in the library at UCTC on September 25, at 7.30pm, will finalise plans for the task day and make decisions on the future strategy of the organisation. A talk about the importance of trees in our towns is to be given by the chairman of the Sussex branch of the International Tree Foundation Lewis Wallis.
Read more about the work of Lime Aid at http://limetreeavenue.co.uk.
Press release added to site Monday, August 25, 2008.
Four unsafe poplars are felled 
Rogue poplars within an historic avenue of lime trees in Uckfield were felled last week. Tree surgeons started work on Thursday morning cutting them down in sections and finished on Friday.
The poplars were neighbours of a tree which fell unexpectedly earlier this year narrowly missing a car driving on to the Uckfield Community Technology College site.
It was only the quick action of principal Mr Craig Pamphilon, who ran to stop the car, which saved the driver and passenger from being crushed.
Lime 
Aid, a voluntary organisation campaigning to restore Lime Tree Avenue, funded the felling of the neighbouring poplars through a private donation. The aim is to replant with limes in National Tree Week in November.
Tree surgeon Nick Bagguley, who carried out the work, said it was clear the poplars had reached the end of their natural life.
A story about the felling appeared on p13 in The Argus on Monday, June 2, 2008, see left, and there was a picture and story in the Courier on p10 on Friday, June 6, 2008, right.
County lists adoption requirements
Details of work which needs to be done in an Uckfield avenue before it can be considered for adoption by the county highways department have been given to the organisation campaigning for its restoration.
Lime Aid, which was set up to help maintain and improve historic Lime Tree Avenue, is now in a position to arrange preliminary surveys and seek estimates for the work and prepare for a major fund-raising drive
to enable it to be carried out.
But first it must make sure it has the support of all the owners of the different sections of avenue for the work to go ahead, because without that support adoption cannot be considered.
Mr Dale Foden, deputy network manager for West Network Highways at the county council, attended a meeting of Lime Aid last week and offered to support the voluntary organisation where possible.
He stressed no county money was available to carry out improvements but said officers’ time and expertise could be offered to inspect work carried out and ensure it met the necessary standard.
He made it clear that before adoption could be considered the organisation requesting adoption should have ownership, or full documented control, of all relevant areas, including consent of all those with an interest in the land.
‘The scale of the task we have before us is huge,’ said Lime Aid secretary Mike Benians. ‘But it is clear we must make it a priority to win the consent of all the owners to proceed with our efforts to see the avenue adopted.
‘It surely is in their best interests to do so because without a proper improvement and maintenance programme being established, their liabilities will continue to increase.
‘The owners are responsible for maintenance of their land and liable in the event of any accident but if we can help them bring it up to a standard acceptable to the highways department and have it adopted by them then their burden will be lifted and the whole community will have an avenue to be proud of and an essential right of way which is safe to use.’
Press release added to site Friday, May 2, 2008. Story was on p2 of the Leader, below right, on Thursday, May 8, 2008. It was p18 lead with pictures in the Courier, above right, on Friday, May 9, 2008.
Campaigner welcomes council initiative
Lime Aid secretary Mike Benians has welcomed a town council initiative to tackle the problem of poorly maintained footpaths on the Manor Park Estate, Uckfield.
His organisation is campaigning to restore Lime Tree Avenue where there are similar maintenance difficulties caused by multiple private ownerships of a public right of way.
Ownership of the avenue, and the estate footpaths, was shared out by developers of the Manor Park Estate, Federated Homes, who are now in receivership. Nobody has ever co-ordinated collection of funds which could be used to carry out maintenance work.
Mr Benians sa.JPG)
id: ‘We have already identified all the owners of the different sections of the avenue and know that many more people have covenants attached to their deeds which say they should contribute to its upkeep. We would like to work with them to return the avenue to its former glory.
‘We feel it is essential for the avenue to be brought up to a standard where it can be adopted by the county council and just like the town council-led group we are asking the county for details of the standard required before it will consider adopting Lime Tree Avenue.’
Press release added to site Thursday, April 10, 2008. Story and pictures on p21 of The Argus on Friday, April 11, 2008 (top left); taster on front page of Leader and lead story with pic on p2 on Thursday, April 1.JPG)
7 (middle left); lead story on p18 of the Courier on Friday, April 18 (bottom left).
It also appeared as the p5 lead in the Sussex Express on Friday, May 2.
Lime Aid offers help afte
r tree fall Four poplars are to be felled in the interests of safety following a near disaster last week which was prevented only by the quick-thinking of a head teacher.
The moment when the principal of Uckfield Community Technology College, Craig Pamphilon, saved a member of staff and his son being crushed, in their car, under a falling tree was captured on CCTV and the footage has attracted widespread interest.
The fallen tree was a poplar, not covered by a preservation order attached to other trees in an avenue next to the college, and there is concern about the safety of four other poplars nearby.
Now Lime Aid, an Uckfield organisation campaigning to restore Lime Tree Avenue, has offered to fund the felling of those poplars, which can be seen right, and Wealden District Council has said it would support the works in the interests of safety.
Landscape and arboriculture assistant Richard Webber said there were two options for reducing the risk posed by the trees, significantly prune them or remove them.
The only way the council could protect them 
was with a tree preservation order but because of the recent wind throw of a poplar in the school grounds it would be reluctant to do that.
‘It would be ideal to replant with lime trees,’ he said. ‘And that would be a good project for National Tree Week later in the year.’
Ownership of the avenue is fragmented and this causes problems with co-ordinating maintenance of the trees. Lime Aid wants to encourage and enable the owners to bring it up to a standard where it could be adopted by East Sussex County Council.
Owner of the fallen poplar Jeff Brooks, who lives next door to the college in Downsview Crescent, said he was grateful to Lime Aid secretary Mike Benians for helping him find a contractor to remove the tree.
He was also grateful for the offer of funding to remove the other four poplars. He had been very worried about the scale of the problem..JPG)
Mr Benians said the main concern of Lime Aid was to see the avenue properly maintained so it was safe to be used by the many people heading on foot to and from the community college, leisure centre and Manor Park Estate.
‘These poplars are a safety risk – another was removed last year - and they are rogues in an avenue of lime trees. We would like to see them, and other gaps in the avenue, replaced with lime trees and will work towards doing that.’
College principal Mr .JPG)
Pamphilon said he was reassured by the news that for reasons of safety the poplar trees would be felled. He was pleased to learn that new lime trees were likely to be planted and supportive of the strategy being put in place.
.JPG)
Press release added to site Wednesday, March 19, 2008. Story appeared on Friday, March 21, on pages 1 and 3 of the Sussex Express (top right), was p3 lead in the Courier (middle right), p23 of the Argus (left). It was p2 lead in the Leader on Thursday, March 27 (bottom right) and was on p2 of Uckfield Today on Saturday, March 22, (left).
Quick thinking as tree crash
es down
Quick thinking by Uckfield Community Technology College principal Craig Pamphilon saved a member of staff and his son from being crushed by a falling tree last week.
Mr Pamphilon had been told the poplar at the Downsview Crescent entrance looked unstable and stopped Richard Carter’s car just before the tree fell.
The drama was recorded on a college CCTV camera and the footage was seen by many on TV afterwards. Thank you to web manager Peter Hibbs for allowing us to use his photographs of the aftermath.
Mike Benians, secretary of Lime Aid, a group campaigning to restore Lime Tree Avenue, said: ‘We are very relieved nobody was hurt in Lime Tree Avenue or in the grounds of UCTC.
‘The unexpected loss of this tree shows the importance of annual checks being carried out as part of a carefully planned maintenance programme – something that is unlikely to happen while the avenue remains in disparate ownership.
‘We believe a way has to be found of helping the owners, and others with responsibility for the maintenance of the avenue to bring it up to a standard where it can be formally adopted by East Sussex County Council.’
Mike’s comments, above, were reported in the Argus, Courier and Sussex Express on Friday, March 14, 2008. 
Click slide show to go to the Lime Aid website and see volunteers at work in the avenue
30 volunteers join task 
force
Volunteers take a break during the Lime Tree Avenue task day. Picture by Ron Hill.
More than 30 volunteers worked throughout Saturday (January 19) with loppers, saws and secateurs to cut back undergrowth in an historic avenue in Uckfield.
The task force, which was rallied by Lime Aid, an organisation campaigning to restore Lime Tree Avenue to its former glory, cut back the epicormic growth, or suckers, on about three-quarters of the 100 trees.
Chairman Dr Martyn Stenning was delighted with the result. In addition to cutting back the undergrowth a new tree was planted, ‘considerable amounts’ of litter were cleared and volunteers enjoyed jacket potatoes cooked on a bonfire.
‘The morale of everybody has been excellent and looking down the avenue you can see what we have done – it looks cared for and if you care for a place people are more likely to respect it.’
One of the volunteers was Desmond Gunner, representing the International Tree Foundation. He lives in Buxted and is a keen supporter of Lime Aid. He once described neglect of the avenue as ‘reprehensible’ and on Saturday said he was pleased to see the work being done.
Another volunteer, Jo Burchett, has lived in Pine Walk near the avenue for more than 30 years and she too praised th
e work of Lime Aid. ‘When Lime Aid first started there was a tremendous amount of litter in the avenue. It is so much better now it has all 
been cleared up.’
Town co-ordinator Barry Knights was also helping on Saturday. He told a meeting of Lime Aid on Thursday that its efforts were recognised as contributing to the regeneration of Uckfield.
The avenue once led to Uckfield House which was demolished to make way for the Manor Park Estate. It is still regularly used by people living on the estate and by students at Uckfield Community Technology College on their way to and from school.
A slide show of volunteers at work can be seen on the Lime Aid website at http://www.lime-aid.org.uk.
(Press release added to site Monday, 
January 21, 2008. Meridian TV featured volunteers at work on the same evening having filmed in the avenue on Saturday. A picture was used on p1 of the Leader on Thursday, January 24, with another picture and story on p2 (see right). The story was front page lead with a picture in the Courier, p9 lead with two pictures in the Sussex Express, see middle left, and p22 with a picture in the Argus, see bottom left, on Friday, January 25, 2008. A picture and story were carried in Uckfield Today on Saturday, 26.)
Appeal for help in tidying avenue Volunteers are needed to join a task force to cut back the undergrowth in an historic tree-lined avenue in Uckfield.
Loppers, secateurs, saws, rakes and yard brooms will be needed to tackle the job in Lime Tree Avenue where 100 trees will benefit from the work being done.
Dr Martyn Stenning, chairman of Lime Aid, an organisation set up to restore the avenue to its former glory, said it would be fantastic if enough people came forward to be allocated a tree each.
He added it was essential to cut back the epicormic growth, or suckers, which, if left, would deprive the trees of nutrients causing them to die from the top.
Dr Stenning has organised similar task days in Lake Wood and said they had proved to be great fun as well as benefiting the environment.
Everybody working must wear leather gloves, wear warm clothing and bring refreshments and children under the age of 16 must remain the responsibility of their parents, he said.
Dr Stenning would like to build a bonfire to get rid of all the clippings and said if people brought along potatoes wrapped in foil they might be able to cook their own lunch. Freedom Leisure Centre manager Richard Whitling has given permission for volunteers to meet in the centre’s lower car park and says they will be welcome to take breaks in their café and use their toilet facilities. A first aider would be on duty at the leisure centre if needed, he added.
‘We are very grateful to Freedom Leisure for their help,’ saidDr Stenning.
The task day is due to take place on Saturday, January 19,between 10am and 4pm. Anybody interested in learning more about Lime Aid would be welcome to attend the AGM of the organisation on Thursday, January 17, at 7.30pm, in the library at the Uckfield Community Technology College.
Dr Stenning will be giving a talk during the meeting about trees and will include a briefing on the work to be carried
out in the avenue on the task day.
(Press release added to site, Sunday, January 6, 2008. Story appeared on p3 of the Uckfield Leader on Thursday, January 10; on the front page of Sussex Express on Friday, January 11, 2008, (see middle right) and on p24 of the Courier (bottom). The poster (top) has been displayed across Uckfield.)
Call for pressure on home owners
Pressure should be put on the owners of 90 properties, built as the first phase of an estate in Uckfield, to contribute towards the maintenance of an historic avenue, it was agreed last week.
Deeds produced at a meeting of Lime Aid, an organisation formed to restore Lime Tree Avenue, showed that the Manor Park Estate home owners should each contribute a proportion of the costs of maintaining 
and repairing the former carriageway and associated footpaths.
The deeds, which were registered in 1966, show the homes as being in Lime Tree Avenue, Downsview Crescent, Warburton Close, Larnach Close, Southview Drive, Beeches Close and Lime Close.
Lime Aid is to write to East Sussex County Council asking whether their solicitor could contact the residents reminding them of their responsibilities.
The campaigners are pressing on with their efforts to overcome 
problems caused by multiple ownership of the avenue and at the meeting on Thursday (September 20) Uckfield Community Technology College principal Mr Craig Pamphilon assured them of his continuing support.
Many students use the path to get to and from the school each day and Mr Pamphilon said he would be pressing the council to install proper lighting there to make it safer during dark winter months.
Volunteers are being sought to join in a task day on Saturday, January 19, to cut back epicormic growth, or suckers, on the avenue’s lime trees. Lime Aid chairman Dr Martyn Stenning said that if the growth wasn’t controlled the trees would be deprived of nutrients and start dying from the top.
Press release added to site Tuesday, September 25, 2007 and story appeared as p5 lead in the Uckfield Leader on Thursday, September 27, 2007, p3 lead in the Sussex Express and on p13 in the Courier on Friday, September 28).
Inventor gives campaign a boost
Inventor Phil Lancaster is helping the community and carrying out a useful test for his recently developed night lights at the same time.
Phil, who lives in Sycamore Court, Uckfield, has overseen the installation of 22 of his ‘pedestrian cats’ eyes’ in Lime Tree Avenue in the north of the town.
He is pictured here holding some of his lights with, from the left, John Seaman of Longjohn Landscapes, Mike Benians, founder of Lime Aid and James Moore of CAM Paving.
Phil was prompted to offer to carry out the work while talking to Mike whose organisation is campaigning to restore the avenue, with100 mature lime trees, to its former glory.
The lights, which are being marketed by Mr Lancaster and his colleague Mike Upton, from Eastbourne, through their business NiteSafe, absorb light during the day and are luminous in th
e dark.
The brightness should be the equivalent of full moonlight and last throughout a winter night, said Phil.
Mr Benians said he was grateful to NiteSafe for installing the lights. They had chosen the darkest section of the avenue for the trial and he was looking forward to seeing how well they worked.
He was also grateful to Deloitte for giving permission for the lights to be set into the kerbstones along the avenue. Deloitte are receivers for developers Federated Homes who built the Manor Park Estate during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Lime Tree Avenue suffers because it is in multiple private ownership and nobody takes responsibility for its overall maintenance.
The northern end has 20 owners while the southern end is still in the ownership of Federated Homes.
Mr Benians and fellow campaigners want to see the whole avenue brought up to a standard where it can be adopted by East Sussex County Council. Lime Aid is due to meet again on September 20 in the library at Uckfield Community Technology at 7.30pm and would welcome members of the public interested in taking part.
‘By some historical quirk East Sussex County Council are left with responsibility for the upkeep of the avenue but it is deteriorating and we are very concerned about future maintenance of the carriageway and trees,’ said Mr Benians.
(Added to site Monday, September 3, 2007. Story and picture appeared in Sussex Express Friday, September 7, 2007, p3 and story was in Uckfield Leader Thursday, September 6, p5 lead and in the Courier September 14, p12)
Neglect of trees was 'reprehensible' Neglect of an avenue of lime trees in Uckfield was described as ‘reprehensible’ by a former chairman of the Sussex branch of the International Tree Federation at a meeting on Wednesday, June 6.
The trees have recently been pruned but Mr Desmond Gunner said: ‘You can see by experience that they have been terribly neglected for the last 20 years and greatly overgrown. It was quite reprehensible they had been left for so long, much too long.’
He was speaking at an extraordinary meeting called by Lime Aid, an organisation dedicated to restoration of Lime Tree Avenue which is suffering because of problems caused by multiple ownership.
Mr Gunner praised the group for all that had been achieved so far but said he was concerned that the general attitude seemed to be that the avenue was a liability, with everyone trying to avoid liability, when instead it should be regarded as a public asset. ‘It is a marvellous avenue of trees and should be looked after.’
About 20 people attended the meeting including representatives of East Sussex County Council, Uckfield Community Technology College, the Sussex Gardens Trust, the Uckfield Regeneration Partnership, local residents and town and county councillors.
The meeting, chaired by ecologist Dr Martyn Stenning, started with a brainstorming session in the avenue and continued next door in the library of UCTC.
He praised volunteers who had helped improve the avenue and hoped more would rally to join working parties and help with future maintenance.
Ideas which are to be followed up include drawing up a five-year maintenance plan, considering the possibility of buying a section of the avenue, which is in the hands of receivers, and setting up a trust to take over responsibility for the carriageway.
Fund-raising suggestions included launching a sponsor-a-tree scheme and it was agreed to continue to seek grants from a variety of organisations.
(Added to site Thursday, June 7. Press release was used with picture of campaigners on p4 of Sussex Express, Friday, June 8, and a story was carried in Courier, p16, Friday, June 8. Press release was p3 lead with a picture in The Leader on Thursday, June 14)
Campaigners would like to buy road Campaigners working towards restoration of an avenue of lime trees are looking at ways of buying a section of the road from receivers.
They want to bring the whole of Lime Tree Avenue, in Uckfield, up to a standard where it 
can be adopted by East Sussex County Council and one of the problems they face is multiple ownership.
The northern end has 20 owners while the southern end is in the hands of Deloitte, receivers for developers Federated Homes.
Secretary of Lime Aid, Mr Mike Benians, has called an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, June 6, to discuss the ownership problems and ways of raising funds to support the campaign.
He is planning a brainstorming session in the avenue at 6.30pm, to launch the meeting which will then move to the library at Uckfield Community Technology College.
He hopes the brainstorming will generate ideas which can be drawn into a five-
year management plan for repair and maintenance of the avenue.
Mr Benians was delighted when trees lining the avenue were pollarded earlier this year to make them safe. He said the town owed a debt of gratitude to UCTC and the county council for having the work done on the east side of the avenue.
The avenue runs beside the grounds of UCTC and is regularly used by students walking to and from the college.
(Added to site Friday, May 25. Press release followed up and used as page 9 lead in The Argus, on Tuesday, May 29. It was page 5 lead in the Sussex Express, Friday, June 1, and followed up with a picture as page 6 lead in the Courier, Friday, June 1. It was the lead story on p1 of The Leader on Thursday, May 31).