The Millenium Yew Trees.

(Another contribution from Canon Charles who has, to everyone’s delight, decided to attend our celebration buffet lunch on 5 December)



I had arrived at St Teresa’s in the last year of the old millennium. With the approach of the year 2000, some of us thought that there ought to be some permanent memorial in the church, (or churchyard), of this great milestone. Pondering what form it might take, I learned that yew tree saplings taken from a tree reputed to be 2000 years old were available at very low cost from Imperial College London. I cannot remember why Imperial College was involved, or how I learned about its munificence, but it seemed to be the perfect idea for our St Teresa’s millennium memorial: a beautiful long-lasting addition to our churchyard.
I enquired at the distribution centre in London, and sure enough we were allocated three small but lusty saplings. All that we had to do was to find a small amount of money and pick them up from London. The next decision was to find a suitable occasion for planting them. We chose Advent Sunday, 1999 for the formal planting. We would make a little ceremony of it after our morning Mass. Advent Sunday was an anticipation of the calendar date of the millennium, but it seemed right at the time to go by the Church’s new year rather than the secular date.
We were all set for our little planting ceremony when Jenny Keeling raised the question of what a hard winter frost might do to our saplings in the early days of their development. She offered to house them safely in her greenhouse at Jacob’s Farm until the spring. We accepted her wise advice, but were all steamed up for our formal planting ceremony on Advent Sunday.
We decided to go ahead with the formal planting and then take advantage of Jenny’s offer of winter sanctuary. So, the three saplings were solemnly planted on Advent Sunday and then immediately taken up and carried to their winter quarters. Two of the three were to adorn either side of the entrance to the churchyard, and the third was to be located by the sacristy door. Our children at the time thought it was hilarious that the saplings were given a ceremonial welcome one minute and then an undignified removal the next.
The saplings thrived in Jenny’s greenhouse during the first winter of the new millennium and were duly transferred back to their proper locations in the spring. A small plaque records their inauguration. Sadly, the one by the sacristy died, but the other two are now sturdy young trees, and could still be there in another 2000 years time.