The man turning storm-damaged trees into art

An artist has launched a project to showcase the thousands of trees which were lost or damaged when Storm Goretti hit Cornwall.

Charlie Thacker, a woodworker living in the county, said he wanted to commemorate the significance of the trees in the places they had grown and become part of people's lives.

Thacker plans to make prints of the trees' rings to be exhibited at a venue somewhere in the county. He said: "I'm collecting lots of stories, either people and their connection to the tree or the significance of what the tree was used for," he said.

The number of trees which came down across Cornwall in Storm Goretti may never be known but it is estimated to be in the thousands.

Thacker said the history a tree holds was "really quite magical".

"I collected one from Carbis Bay and I was told the lifeguards would use the tree as a landmark when out at rough seas," he said.

He said he was getting different people to write to him about the story of the tree or the land it grew on: "I want to tell a story of where the tree was growing if I get the people's permission who gave it to me."

"With each individual tree I'll sand them back to a really high grit, soak them and print with them.

"Then with each print I'm going to do a limited run of about 15 prints and exhibit them somewhere in Cornwall."

Thacker said he hoped to work with a local artist to create a map of Cornwall and pin all the locations the trees had grown.

He said: "I've already been offered a couple of different exhibition spaces and yes it seems like it's something people really want to see."

Thacker said he has been a woodworker for eight years and his entry into carpentry involved learning about woodland management.

He said: "I think trees are just the most amazing regenerative, renewable resource and different people can get so much from a tree.

"Someone can make stuff from a tree or someone can sit under a tree. It can be like a windbreak for people. I just think they're these like big giants that hold so much history."

He said the aim was to highlight the impact of Storm Goretti and the "widespread damage that hit Cornwall" and "inspire people to plant more trees".

Thacker said the response from people on social media wanting to share the story of their trees had been "amazing".

"At the moment I have 32 different rings and I think it's about 12 to 15 different species," he said.

He added he had some rare timber coming from a Cornish tree surgeon and five or six more trees.

"I'm not getting any funding for this project and that's something I do need to try and find but it's it's really exciting," he said.

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