Forestry and Arboricultural history book| The Woodcutters Tale| Mervyn Walker

Yellow Fox

OK, we have a book for sale that we first published in the UK back in 2006. Maybe it will be interesting to some of our Australian ans New Zealend friends.

'The Woodcutters Tale' is biography of Mervyn Walker.

A Yorkshireman, Mervyn made the woods of Lower Wharfedale his childhood playground from an early age. He was fascinated by the flora and fauna they contained and intrigued by the mysterious activities of the woodcutters employed by Arthur Green of Silsden Limited. Green was the most successful round-timber merchant in Britain and, when the opportunity of joining the firm as a trainee axe-man came up in the summer of 1946, Mervyn jumped at the chance. He quickly mastered the art (for that’s what it was to him and his colleagues) of rounding up trees at ground level without leaving an axe mark and became Green’s youngest foreman in 1952 at the age of twenty-one. Working in the woods was not just a job to Mervyn; it was a way of life. He left the employ of ‘owd Arthur’ in 1961 to set up his own business, Tree Fellas of Ilkley, and remained active until ill health forced him finally to hang up his axe at the age of 74.

Save for a brief stint of National Service in the Welsh Guards, felling trees was Mervyn Walker’s lifelong career and his consuming passion. Especially in the early days, it demanded courage, skill, ingenuity and resourcefulness and Mervyn derived enormous pride and satisfaction from every job well done. His 60-year span in arboriculture covered felling some of the finest trees that ever grew in Britain, the transition from horse-drawn to motorised transport, the introduction of piece-work, the invention of the chainsaw and the rise of local tree surgeons like his own son, John. More than that, Mervyn’s enquiring mind and love of nature brought him knowledge of trees, the places in which they grew, and the things that lived in and around them was second to none.


Mervyn Walker was among the very last of a special breed of men, the like of whom will never be seen again and it was a matter of great satisfaction to him that he lived long enough to see the story and images of his life and times at Green’s published in book form. Mervyn Walker died on the 5th of June 2007.

We have available a number of copies of the book. These are available via the ebay website at:http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/The-Woodcutters-Tale_W0QQitemZ120466149165QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Books_NonFictionBooks_NonFictionBooks_SM?hash=item1c0c578f2d&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14Please check your postage costs before placing an order and remember that the surface mail option will take at least 56 days to reach Australia and New Zealand, according to Royal mail anyway!

Any questions at all please send me a pm.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Yellow Fox

The book has placed again thge revised link is:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120469923845

JohN Dee

Yellow Fox, I would like to order a copy. Could I get a quote in AUD book price + postage?

__________________
We are what we repeatedly do... Excellence then, is not an act, but HABIT...

Red : Green : Blue

Yellow Fox

John,

Thanks for your interest.

An approxiamate conversion would be $35.00AU. This is with the air mail option. If you purchase through the Ebay site using paypal then all conversions will be done for you.

Please bear in mind before ordering that the air mail option takes between 3 and 5 working days to arrive, whereas the surface mail option can take up to 12 weeks to be delivered

the big tree nut

hi
is there any books left
Cheers

Dave

Yellow Fox

Yes, the book is still available. I am not selling via the ebay link anymore so please send a PM and I'll give you the ordering details.

chrisingham

Is the book available for purchase directly only or can we purchase through other online platforms such as Amazon? Just wondering. If so will send you a PM as soon as I find out. Definitely sounds like something I would like to add to my reading list.

Eric Frei

I still thimb through the book.

It is not an arborist education book, but is solid in tree work since WW2 and what went on with a few people. It was a breath of fresh air actually.

Interesting to see some techniques, some great pictures.

Put it this way, the Yanks all buy Berenek's books and read his stories, well this is like the UK equivalent, and Australia being more culturally aligned with UK although economically with USA I think it was refreshing and lets say ... more down to earth.

__________________

Yellow Fox

You can contact directly by sending a message to the email address below.

walleye@btinternet.com