If you go down to the woods at the Royal Bath & West Show you are certainly in for a great surprise!
It will all be happening down at the Showground’s Woodland and Wildlife area this year where the pirates of the trees will be captivating the crowds alongside the ships of the desert and wild wolves.
The Tree Pirates, the UK’s Number One Chainsaw Sculpture Team , will be demonstrating their cutting-edge skills throughout all four days of the Show.
Highlight of their demonstrations will be the construction of a mighty wooden *gryphon – the mythical winged monster with an eagle-like head and the body of a lion. The 15 foot high creature with a 30 foot wing span will be transported to nearby Worthy Farm after the Show to have pride of place at this year’s Glastonbury Festival. The Farm already boasts the Tree Pirates’ highly acclaimed giant 35 foot high scorpion constructed for last year’s Festival while Wookey Hole down the road is home to their four ton Dragon Seat, a Witch’s Hat Pagoda and a fairytale bridge.
“We are really looking forward to coming to the Royal Bath & West Show this year,” enthused Tree Pirate Sam Ellis. The Pirates were formed in 1997 by a group of friends passionate about wood, chainsaws and sculpture.
The team consists of tree surgeon Sam, lead designer AD (sic) Pugh who is a timber framer by trade, wood sculptor Ed Moon, and log cabin maker Dan Franklin, all from Somerset, and mother-of-two Liz Clegg from Devon who is also a tree surgeon.
The team have just returned with more accolades from the Ridgeway Rendezvous in Pennsylvania, the largest gathering of chainsaw artists in the world, where they constructed a huge 30ft high gateway complete with a 1950’s American car dangling beneath it, with the four main timbers reflecting the four elements - fire, water, earth and air.
Theirs is an art definitely not to be tried at home. Each member of the team has years of woodworking experience and AD holds a certificate in forestry and chainsaw competence as well as being an expert carpenter.
Working with the spirit and form of the tree as much as possible the team says their work incorporates traditional timber framing techniques with creative flare.
Meanwhile further into the woods the ships of the desert will be camels who will be joining their llama cousins for some trekking expeditions through the forest.
And highlight of the Woodland and Wildlife area will be the incredible opportunity to meet and greet wild wolves.
(*The griffin or gryphon is a mythical quadruped with the foreparts of an eagle and the rear, tail and hindquarters of a lion. Its eagle-like head had pointed, upstanding ears like those of an ass. Feathers grew upon its head, neck and chest and the rest of the griffin’s body was covered in leonine fur, subtly colored in shades of tawny brown. Aelian said the wings of griffins were white and their necks were variegated in colour with blue feathers. The griffin claws were especially valuable as they were reputed to change color in the presence of poison, which is why they made useful drinking vessels. At times, it is portrayed with a long snake-like tail. In some traditions, only the female has wings. Its nests are made of gold and its eggs resemble agates. It is supposed to be of gigantic proportions, the morphology being left to our own deduction after we have been informed that one claw is the size of a cow's horn. )