Japanese visitors plant Gingko tree at Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre

Western Telegraph

25-04-2025

A sapling propagated from the famous Gingko tree which towers above the Royal Dockyard will now grow in the grounds of the town's Heritage Centre, formerly the Dockyard Chapel.
In a ceremony on Thursday April 17, Japanese diplomat Mr Masaki Ikegami, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Japan to the United Kingdom, planted the sapling before invited guests, heritage trustees and centre volunteers. He was joined for the visit by Captain Shuzo Homma, Naval Attache at the Japanese Embassy.
The original Gingko tree, in the garden of the nearby Master Shipwright's House, was gifted to the town in 1877 to mark the launch of one of the first modern warships for the Imperial Japanese Navy - which was modelled on the Royal Navy. The Armoured Corvette Hiei was built at a private shipyard at Jacob's Pill, Pennar, and its launch was a major event in Pembroke Dock, attended by the then Japanese Ambassador to the UK.
Mr Masaki Ikegami and Captain Shuzo Homma from the Japanese Embassy pictured by the Ginkgo tree in the grounds of the Master Shipwright's House with the owner, Stewart Walton (left), and Rik Saldanha and John Evans of the Pembroke Dock Heritage Trust. (Image: Martin Cavaney Photography)
In recent years several offspring from the Ginkgo have been nurtured at the National Botanical Gardens of Wales and some have since been returned to Japan, where they have been planted at naval bases and at the shrine to naval hero Admiral Heichahiro Togo who, as a young lieutenant, lodged in Pembroke Dock during the construction of the Hiei.
The Japanese guests were welcomed by Heritage Trust Patron John Evans and chairman Rik Saldanha and others present included the Deputy Lieutenant of Dyfed, Professor Patricia Mawuli Porter; the chairman of Pembrokeshire County Council, Councillor Steve Alderman; the mayor of Pembroke Dock; Councillor Maria Williams; Welsh Assembly Member, Sam Kurtz, and Ayshea Cunniffe-Thomas from the National Botanic Garden of Wales and Simon Richards, who had both played key parts in the story of the new Ginkgo trees. Simon gave fascinating details about what is one of the oldest trees in the world, dating from the era of the dinosaurs.
Also welcomed was Mrs Margaret James, wife of the late David James, well- remembered maritime historian and author, whose researches and writings over many years encompassed both the naval links between Japan and Pembroke Dock and the commemoration of Japanese sailors, casualties in the Great War, who are buried in Pembrokeshire. She was accompanied by her son, Adrian.
And there was a special link to Japan through Mrs Yoriko Omae, originally from Hiroshima, who had helped David James with the commemoration of Japanese sailors at Angle and who recently retired as a staff member at the town library.
Following the planting ceremony, guests visited the garden of the Master Shipwright's House, courtesy of owners Stewart and Angela Walton, to view the original Ginkgo tree.