The Poplars at the back of the school are also proposed for the axe - which has certainly upset the neighbours. Here's a letter to the Head from a resident of St Andrews Road:
"Dear Mrs Jones,
You have submitted a planning application to enlarge the
school grounds. That in itself is a laudable enterprise, in
that no doubt it will enhance facilities for your students
and lead to better and more congenial learning environment.
However, part of your plans are to cut down the row of nine
black poplar trees that have been growing for decades along
the eastern boundary of your school grounds. That is neither
laudable, nor 'green'(the web site states you are 'Going
Green'), nor necessary.
Your school web site advertises that you 'specialise in
languages'. Perhaps your German department and the students
studying that language and culture might care to read and
discuss the following poem by Bertolt Brecht (I898-I956),
written in 1950 on the occasion of a poplar tree found still
standing after most other trees in war-torn and ruined
Berlin had been hacked down for fire wood during the
freezing winter of 1946/7:
Die Pappel vom Karlsplatz - Das freundliche Grün
Eine Pappel steht am Karlsplatz
Mitten in der Trümmerstadt Berlin
Und wenn Leute gehn übern Karlsplatz
Sehen sie ihr freundlich Grün.
In dem Winter sechsundvierzig
Fror'n die Menschen, und das Holz war rar
Und es fielen da viele Bäume
Und es wurd ihr letztes Jahr.
Doch die Pappel dort am Karlsplatz
Zeigt uns heute noch ihr grünes Blatt:
Seid bedankt, Anwohner vom Karlsplatz
Daß man sie noch immer hat!
And for the benefit of those not knowledgable of German a
rather loose translation:
A poplar stands on Charles Square
In the middle of ruinous Berlin
And when people go across Charles Square
They see her friendly green.
In the winter of forty-six
The people froze, and the wood was rare
And many trees were felled
And it was her last year.
But the poplar there on Charles Square
Still today shows us her leafy green:
Thank you, residents of Charles Square
That we still have her with us.
I hope you will pass this on to your relevant teaching
staff and I would welcome your feedback concerning the
outcome of this educational piece of unfortunately rather
topical literary analysis. I would be especially interested
in what reactions your students had to the proposed plans to
remove 'their' poplars.
Yours sincerely..."
