Max’s tree ‘snapped’ as he died (From Bournemouth Echo)

Max’s tree ‘snapped’ as he died

11:41am Wednesday 5th September 2012 in News By Caitlin Marsh

A BELOVED tree in the garden of the former home of Max Bygraves split and fell – on the weekend of his death.

The pine tree in the garden of Max’s old place, Panorama House at Alum Chine, cracked and a huge branch snapped off and fell across the bench where the entertainer used to sit with his wife, Blossom.

It has also broken several paving steps and now Isabelle Edward, 43, and her husband, Johann, 48, who bought the house back in 2006 from Max’s son, Anthony, are pondering the coincidence of the timing.

They were away on holiday at the time that it had fallen, but returned on Monday to find one of the branches on the ground and no reasonable explanation for how it go there.

Isabelle said: “We came back from Spain on Monday and it had fallen down sometime between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

She added: “I am not superstitious, but my husband is and he suggested that it had something to do with the fact that Max had died.

“We saw the news of Max’s death whilst we were away, which is sad, and I saw on the Echo website the story about it, with the picture of him by the tree, but we didn’t know about this at the time.

“It is just one big branch that has fallen, and I just don’t believe that a human could have done that, because you’d need a big weight.

“It may have had something to do with the Bournemouth Air Festival , as the Red Arrows use this house as a reference point, so it may have been down to the vibrations.

“This is one of only a few of these trees on this road and all the others are okay.”

Max died in his sleep at the age of 89 on Saturday, September 1, at his home in Australia.

His daughter, Christine, and her husband, Barry, were with him.

He lived at the house in Alum Chine for around 30 years before emigrating.