Widower, 85, left 'devastated' at theft of hospice tree

A WIDOWER is devastated after a special tree planted by his late wife has been dug up and stolen.
Cyril Gill, 85, said this week marked the fourth anniversary of his wife Ruby’s death and the whole family was ‘upset’ by the theft from a hospice’s garden.
The monkey puzzle tree was planted by Ruby five years ago, while she was a patient at the Joseph Weld Hospice in Dorchester.
Mr Gill, of Lodmoor, Weymouth, said: “We had a proper ceremony with all the trustees from the hospice when we planted it.
“We bought the tree from Bridport and I pushed Ruby in her wheelchair so she could plant it. My wife was quite taken up with monkey puzzle trees and after she passed away I still kept going there.
“When I went there with my granddaughter it wasn’t there and I found out from the head gardener that it had been stolen.
“He said one day it was there and the next it was gone.”
Mr Gill added: “I hope the person who stole my late wife’s tree, which she had planted in the Joseph Weld gardens while she was a patient before she passed away, is happy with it.
“It must be a very low person, no doubt.”
Mr Gill said he did not know why his wife loved monkey puzzle trees so much but that his daughter Carol, of north Devon, and granddaughter Karen, who lives in Leicester, had both planted them in their gardens in Ruby’s honour.
Alison Ryan, chief executive of Weldmar Hospicecare Trust, said how shocked she was that someone had taken the tree.
She added: “Several of the trees planted in the grounds have very special memories for our patients’ families.”

(Reproduced from the Dorset Echo, 13th November)

GARDIEN TIP: It is possible to protect trees against theft by using a Rootball Anchor when planting. See http://www.garden-security.co.uk/Rootball-Anchor.aspx