Community champion beats vandals to rebuild Delph's much-loved wooden tree

An unassuming community champion who defied vandals has been praised for rebuilding an emblematic wooden tree in the heart of a Saddleworth village.

Originally, retired joiner Chris Bannatyne handbuilt a tree from pieces of wooden pallets he  assembled in his “man shed ” in Delph. It quickly became a landmark with locals and visitors  taking  walks past its riverside setting.

His wife Sharon said:”The first tree was put up in December 2022. It was only meant to be there for Christmas, but I suggested to Chris to leave it up and then throughout the year add different wood carvings, depending on the event.

“We put carvings representing  Valentines Day, St Patrick’s Day, St George’s Day, football carvings for both the men and women’s football, Mother’s Day , Father’s Day the  Easter Bunny and many more.

“The tree is made up of pieces of wood all individually hand sanded and stained. Each individual carving can take up to a day to make and paint.

“The tree attracted lots of attention and people stop to look and have their photograph taken with it in the background. It was so disappointing to find it  had pushed it into the river after it had recently undergone a refurbishment.”

But the tree  was targeted  on Easter Sunday by vandals in a wave of attacks which wrecked  greenhouses, damaged cars and walls on a rampage though Uppermill, Dobcross and Delph.

Now Chris, who  has refurbished the tree,  took up the story. “The vandals  pushed the tree into the river,” he said. “But  I didn’t realise how much the tree had become part of the village until it was destroyed.

“It has become part of the village - it’s the Delph tree now. Children have added colourful stones too… but I didn’t realize it was admired by so many people.”

Councillor Pam Byrne, who represents Saddleworth North, said:” everyone loves the tree. It is truly part of the village and it’s a tribute to Chris. The whole community  were really upset  when the tree was damaged .”