IT technician Rob McBride (Image: The Tree Hunter/Instagram)
WORK was slowly killing IT technician Rob McBride. His salvation was to turn over a new leaf, and reconnect with his love of the countryside. Today his passion for ancient trees will put him centre stage at a European competition aimed at conserving our living heritage. Rob was working up to 16 hours a day as a "burnt-out software engineer" for a food manufacturing company 15 years ago.
"I suppose I was having a mental breakdown," he says. "Too much work, stress and severe anxiety - I couldn't even go out into a supermarket or anything.
"It took a toll over a long time and I knew I needed to be outdoors because I instantly felt better every time I went outside." Rob suffered with bouts of poor mental health for two years and eventually made the decision to volunteer with Shropshire Council and the Woodland Trust.
While doing so, he was invited to a conference to hear Ted Green, a founding member of the Ancient Tree Forum, give a talk.
He recalled how Green said the UK was the European rainforest for ancient trees. "That blew my mind," Rob said. "It was fantastic."
It was a defining moment and ever since he has been a passionate campaigner for the protection of trees. "They saved my life, so I'm giving something back, especially to ancient trees because they've got no protection."
Eventually he left his job and discovered a "new lease of life".
In 2005 Rob set about trekking 80 miles of Offa's Dyke, a national trail that runs along the border between England and Wales, to find and record ancient trees.
Rob with one of his treasured oldies (Image: The Tree Hunter/Instagram)
Four years later, in May 2009, he was driving through the Welsh countryside when he noticed an impressive oak and stopped to take a closer look.
"Older trees are quite short, pollarded [the top and branches cut over time to promote new growth] and they've hollowed out," he says.
Rob recorded the 500-year-old tree - the Brimmon Oak - in Newtown, Powys, on the Ancient Tree Hunt, a national database which maps the oldest and most important trees in the UK.
Six years later, in 2015, he was contacted by Mervyn Jones - whose family have farmed the area for centuries - warning that the Brimmon Oak faced being destroyed for a £56million bypass.
Together Rob and Mervyn campaigned to save the ancient tree. Finally, following a 5,000 signature petition, the Welsh Assembly agreed to divert the A483 Newtown Bypass by 49 feet. Rob still remembers the moment he got the news. "I was at Mervyn's house. We jumped about and hugged each other.We were so happy."
Rob and Mervyn even received a letter of congratulations from the Queen for their efforts.
