Queen guitarist Brian May barred from planting daffodils in his village on safety grounds

 

Queen's Brian May has been helping to plant flowers in his village in Surrey, England. 

Ian West/PA/AP

Legendary rocker Brian May became a local hero in the quiet English village where he lives when he donated thousands of daffodil bulbs to brighten up the green outside the church last year.

But plans to extend his floral donations for next year have bitten the dust after local authorities intervened and blocked the move.

The Queen guitarist and founding member donated 3,000 daffodil bulbs to the local community and has been regularly posting online about the progress of their growth on the church green in Elstead, Surrey, where he lives. Back in October, he wrote about how school children had turned out to plant the flowers and has kept his followers updated on their progress since then, sharing photos and videos.

In his most recent post on Instagram this week, he said he has been “quite thrilled” about the “happy comments” from villagers about the floral display.

May, who wrote some of Queen’s biggest hits, including “We Will Rock You” and “Who Wants to Live Forever,” thanked Team Daffodil –– the community volunteers who helped plant the bulbs –– but in the same post also revealed that the village authorities had rejected his offer to donate more flowers to the nearby village green.

His donation has been blocked on safety grounds, he explained.

May told his 3.6 million followers that he is “reluctantly” canceling his order for more bulbs, adding: “We were all hoping to adorn the main Village Green for next Spring … but sadly the Parish Council last night rejected my plan. Apparently the main objection is that the sight lines on the Green will be affected for traffic. We’re struggling to imagine how 18 inch stalks could instruct anyone’s view! Especially when the green is normally surrounded by parked vehicles, including a 7 foot high ice cream van!!!”