From oak tree to work of art.

Broughton Astley Parish Council are delighted to announce the installation of a carved oak bench at the Leisure Centre site.

As part of the building work for the leisure centre four mature oak trees were unfortunately felled.
We really did not want to lose these majestic specimens and vowed to bring them back to life in another form. The Parish Council looked at the different ways in which they could be utilised, and we found a very skilled wood carver who could make benches from the oak trunks.
The parish office staff then worked to get the project underway by applying for funds from Harborough District Council's Community Grant Fund. Once this was approved, we booked in Peter Leadbeater, a Leicestershire wood sculptor, to begin the hard work. The project was delayed by the Covid pandemic and poor weather, but Peter began carving on April 21st 2021 and just five days later an amazing work of art had been created, bringing an old tree trunk back to life!

We then had to work out how to move the bench into place as it was so heavy!

A local farmer, Nick Lane, came to our rescue and very kindly used his heavy lifting gear to put the bench in situ. We would like to send a special thanks to Nick for his help.

The bench has been treated and anchored. It takes pride of place near to the place where it once grew, and people are able to sit and watch the children play.