A MASSIVE tree that crashed down in recent storms as talks about its future were being held is set to be turned into sculptured features for play areas.

The giant horse chestnut had graced the churchyard at St Mary's in Thornbury for hundreds of years but fell victim to the strong winds that hit the Bristol area just days into the new year.

Park Road and Castle Street had to be closed when the tree toppled over – thankfully at a time when no one was passing.

Now Thornbury Town Council is hoping the timber can be given a new life as carved items for its children's playgrounds.

There had already been concern about the tree as it was leaning away from the church, with its trunk pressing against the top metal bar within the wall going around the churchyard. The wall was also starting to crack and a number of experts had been called in to look at the tree to decide if it was safe to leave or whether it should be removed.

Opinion was divided, with some officers from South Gloucestershire Council believing it was not moving and in no imminent danger, although they wanted it monitored.

Others who examined it felt it should be felled, including town councillor Bob Griffin, who thought it was unsafe.

But Mother Nature stepped in before a decision could be taken and the tree collapsed onto the road, taking part of the wall with it.

Town councillor Clive Parkinson, pictured, chairman of the playing fields and cemetery committee, said: "It was a sad end to a tree that had been there for a couple of hundred years."

The town council had to pay a bill of nearly £2,000 to have the tree cleared up and stepped in to stop the timber being taken away.

Town clerk Judith Payne said it was hoped to get a wood sculptor to carve the pieces into features for play areas.

Several other areas in South Gloucestershire have done similar schemes, with benches in the shape of wildlife in Bradley Stoke and a green man carved into the trunk of a tree at the Wick Golden Valley nature reserve.