A year on from the illegal felling of the iconic tree, musician Kathryn Tickell is releasing a piece to commemorate the landmark.
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00:00Playing the Northumbrian pipes, it's the traditional instrument of this area.
00:05And there's something in the sound of the instrument that, to me, really evokes the...
00:10Well, it makes me think of the landscapes and the places of Northumberland.
00:16Sycamore Gap has been an icon of Northumberland's natural beauty
00:19and was made famous on the world stage by the 1991 film Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.
00:23But you'd have also seen Vera driving past the location
00:26or Robson Green going along one of his many walks past the tree.
00:29So I was surprised how much it had affected... I thought it was just a local thing.
00:33And then I've realised, as I've been doing concerts around Britain and even abroad,
00:37people are talking about Sycamore Gap and they know the story and it's affected people.
00:41So I wanted to write a tune to commemorate it.
00:44In fact, a few people had suggested that I should do.
00:47For many, the tree symbolised Northumberland
00:49and was an image that was used to inspire local tourism.
00:52During times when the Aurora Borealis was particularly visible,
00:55Sycamore Gap was an excellent place to view it from.
00:57My father-in-law is visiting from California
01:00and we've been planning a trip to hike Hadrian's Wall for several years now.
01:05When we saw it on the news, we were very disappointed
01:09that such an iconic tree was felled here.
01:12We've got some recording of Curlews that was taken very near to Hadrian's Wall
01:18and I played it to a friend of mine and he was saying that,
01:22oh, you know, when you hear the Curlews at the end,
01:24it's almost like it's a bit of hope at the end of the tune.
01:27So, you know, there's definitely thoughts of the future, thoughts of renewal in there.
01:32For such an international symbol of the natural beauty of the region
01:34to be chopped down in all its glory,
01:36it's a fitting tribute that a piece of music by an international folk musician
01:39using local instruments has been a way to remember the tree.
01:42It's 40 years since I did my first album, which was when I was still at school.
01:46So I'm going back and trying to channel some of that spirit.
01:52It's an album that's very much more traditional.
01:54It's going back to my roots.
01:56I'm only doing 1,000 of them and the Sycamore Gap tune is on that.