This friend is the King Oak in Charleville Forest. Somewhere between 400 and 800 years of age, it has been climbed on, sat on, wept on, and transported happy children to unending adventures.
When I was too young to go on school tours like my older siblings, my Dad and I would pack a lunch (ok, it was an iced bun in a blue tupperware box) and head off for an adventure to Charleville. Just the two of us. Our first port of call, always, was the King Oak. Gnarled and majestic to an adult, to a (short) four year old it looked as giant as anything could possibly be. Obliging old friend that it is, it has two branches spread out quite low over the ground - absolutely perfect for even smaller kids to climb aboard the horse, train, whale... whatever their imagination called on it to be that day.
Even in my teens, my sister and I would walk to visit friends on the far side of town, and then we would go for a picnic (ok, a bottle of Cola and whatever ice-cream was in fashion at the time) and just sit and chat by, or on, the tree for hours.
I will bring my kids to see my friend the King Oak. They will climb, and I will worry. They'll jump, and I'll catch them. They will hug the tree, and I will smile, and hope that one day they bring their own kids to visit our family friend. And hope that he'll still be there, waiting patiently.
The King Oak in Charleville is currently in competition to win the title European Tree of the Year. Being a tree, it probably doesn't care if it wins or not. But it's nice to think it allows us to remember our friend again, and to honour him in some way. You can vote here http://www.treeoftheyear.org/
