Tree of the week: 'This mango tree provides food – and brings people together'

In this weekly series, readers tell us about their favourite trees. This week: a tree in Burkina Faso that is the focal point of village life

Tom Skirrow discovered this magnificent mango tree on a trip to Burkina Faso in 2018. He was spending the week in the tiny village of Torem, home to 781 people, as part of his work as director of operations for Tree Aid. If I ever wanted to find anyone, that was the tree I went to," he says. It was the place to have a conversation or a meeting." Underneath its branches, villagers also prepared food and did other work.

The tree provided delicious fruit, but it also gave people somewhere to escape the intense sunlight and scorching heat - temperatures could reach 40C (104F). Skirrow, 39, would often find refuge in its shade. Imagine stepping out of a very bright, cloudless environment, where you're almost squinting to be able to see, into a very dense-leaved tree where it's almost too dark and you have to adjust your eyes. You've got this cooling feeling because you've been in the heat - it's almost like stepping into a cave."