To join the society or to contact us please telephone +44 (0) 1420 88411
or email
or write to:- The Alton Society, 10 Barton End,
Lenten Street, Alton, Hampshire. GU34 1LD.
Alton, Our Town, a Great Place to Live
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Our Main Contact is through
the Treasurer:
|
Jan Nicholas,
10 Barton End,
Lenten Street,
GU34 1LD
|
Telephone:
01420 88411
|
Rotating Chairmen:
| Nov 2008 - March 2009 | Edward Hepper
|
| March 2009 - May | Mike Heelis
|
| June - Sept | James Willis
|
| Sept - Nov | Nick Carey-Thomas
|
Trees in Alton
Many trees enrich the environment of Alton. They improve the landscape and our quality of life by softening the visual impact of unrelieved brick, concrete and tarmac. In summer heatwaves they provide the relief of dappled shade. They support a great variety of wildlife that people can enjoy in their own gardens and parks.
Most trees live far longer than humans. This makes us see them as permanent, but they are vulnerable. In Alton we see trees failing in health as they near the lifespan for their kind, sometimes earlier because of stress or disease. Others are healthy now, but may soon decline because of recent or current damage caused by urban development. Much of this damage may be unseen but lethal and it is often inflicted on root systems.
About 30 tree species are ‘native’ to Hampshire. Over 1500 types of tree grow here now, more than the total of all species in China and USA added together. We need to value our trees, to realise when they are declining in health or becoming too unsafe to be retained in busy areas. It follows that we must ensure that we plant enough new trees for future generations to enjoy.
Gardens form the largest part of Alton’s land area and gardening is popular. Most gardens can contribute a tree to the community landscape, even a small one. Until now. Large gardens that once carried a full sized tree to maturity are now converted to a swarm of houses, with each small garden barely able to fit in a rotary clothesline! A bare minimum of new trees are planted, of a small choice of tree species, into inadequate spaces that will not allow the tree to continue to maturity. Even when these new plantings are visualised as mature in years to come, the outlook is bleak and dominated by bricks.
Our ‘green lungs’ of The Butts, the Public Gardens, Kings Pond, Flood Meadows and Anstey Park now play a vital role in demonstrating the potential of mature trees. The huge ancient Sweet Chestnut trees in Anstey Park already have continuity of cover as small trees have been planted near them, and this is to be applauded and hopefully extended everywhere.
In this changing climate the current vogue of "plant native species only" cannot continue. The more powerful summer sun overheats the sap of thin-barked species and damage is already seen in Beech, Holly, Poplar, Willow, Birch, Rowan and even Oak. Others flourish and the choice of species to plant should enlarge and be assessed anew. Small Leaved Lime is a native that now sets viable seed more often. Fastigiate Hornbeam, for street shade, avoids the honeydew that falls from Sycamore and Lime onto parked cars.
Over the past 500 years trees from many other countries have been planted in Britain. The majority have thrived and can give us a startling collection of beautiful amenity trees. Thus we know that climate change will be survived by Holm Oak, Cork Oak, Red Oak, Sweet Maple, Ginko, London Plane, Olive and many others. We are likely to lose some trees which are not planted in favourable surroundings. It is therefore crucial that in Alton trees are planted every winter to take the place of mature trees that will be lost. A careful choice of species using foresight will enable us to view the future with constructive optimism.
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Last Change - May 2009
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