Barney Life No. 26

I hope you can see this dangling branch - it is high up, and dangles right over the footpath and over a busy road. About a fortnight ago I was officially made aware by no less a personage than the Highways Superintendent of Durham County Council that it was very dangerous and I had better do something about it! Actually I had not noticed it. So his warning was very valuable.
On Thursday the Chairman of the Church Trustees brought in a team of tree surgeons.  The photos which follow show how the tree, a great lime, one of an avenue of limes along the front of the Bowes Museum, was trimmed back.
The decision was to take off, not only the dangling branch, but everything which might in the future cause problems.  So having secured ropes higher up the tree, our intrepid surgeon set to work.  In this picture, look closely at the dead centre of the photo - there he is fixing his ropes.

Now he gets to work.

There goes the dangling branch.  The big trees to the right of the photo are in the Museum grounds - not my problem!

Meanwhile, down below, the crew stops the traffic and clears the mess of broken branches. And this is the final result:

This is what passes for excitement in my parish. Sometimes it's almost too much......