Tree crashes into gardens

Residents at Milltown could not believe their eyes when half of a mature tree collapsed into two gardens at Milltown View, damaging a shed and aviary in one garden and flattening toys in the other. No one was injured.

Eyewitness David Curry, who lives opposite the two properties effected by the collapsed tree, said he had gone upstairs to use the computer and was busy browsing when he heard a loud noise and looked out the window.

“I was sitting upstairs and saw the tree coming down. This was after 11.30am or maybe 12pm. I knew my neighbour Charlie was in the house opposite, and the other house is occupied by a woman and her family and she only moved in the week before and the toys were flattened by the tree.

“I’m shocked by it because those are mature trees. All I heard was a loud crack and when I looked out the tree was falling. There is nothing between the gardens and the trees. The whole of one side of the tree came down. It looked to be growing in two different directions, with one part growing in the direction of the houses and the other part into the field.

“It was the bit growing in the direction of the houses that came down. The other part of the tree is still standing,” Mr Curry said.

“We had high wind here on Thursday, but on Friday there wasn’t a breath of air, so maybe the tree was loosened the previous day. There must be about 40 trees behind it, so it is strange that it broke,” he said.

Meanwhile, Charlie Appleby spent the weekend clearing up after the tree damaged his shed and destroyed his bird cages.

“I got the shock of my life when I walked out the back of the house and saw the tree lying on my shed.

“We heard it falling at about lunchtime and when I walked out the back door I could see it had cut across the other trees and the roof on the shed was damaged.

“Some of my birds escaped because the top cages in the shed are all broken. I think I’ve lost seven Gloster Canaries in total,” Mr Appleby said, adding that the shed would also need repaired.