flood defence works on cardiff’s roath brook will entail extensive construction work and tree removal. as a reasonably local resident i was oblivious to these works until about 10 days ago.
roath’s many parks are a fantastic local amenity, the result of impressive victorian ambition and forward thinking. they stretch from the wild gardens in the north, past roath park lake, through the pleasure gardens and recreation ground, through roath mill and waterloo gardens to railways gardens in the south.
as a regular walker, come rain or shine, i spend a lot of time in and around cardiff’s parks and will be sad to see the demise of some beautiful trees. i wanted to take their final portraits before the parks close to the public.
my timing hasn’t been the best – i imagined i had months rather than days. i hoped to draw public attention beyond the immediate area to the loss of these trees. as the parks close for good on monday i’ve had to telescope a month-long project into a couple of days.
maker soph 
Thank you so much for this. I too was oblivious to how many trees were going to be removed. My family have found it crushing. Had we known, we’d have taken photos of the trees we have loved and enjoyed over the last four years of living here. This feels so wrong on so many levels. It feels metaphor for what is going on in the world right now: destruction of environment, community, ancestral memory. Our green spaces are so important. They connect us to our past and our future. They are so important for our mental well being and the wellbeing of everything in our ecosystem. I watched the squirrels dazed and confused as they couldn’t work out where their next jumping point was. I, like them, will miss these old trees; held in my memory, not forgotten, but always with the question why?
I agree and if I can help in any way to stop the removal of so many trees around the area, I want to.
I’m glad somebody noticed and created a sign to get some attention about the disappearing trees. Thank you for making this blog post and thank you for appreciating all the trees that make lovely Roath feel complete. 🙂