Possible Clues:

• Birch family tree that's sacred in Wicca
• Local dignitary - man disappearing in tree
• Top removed from more exposed tree
• Tree with less on top, having been lopped
• Army centre's marksman clearing the tree
• Water resistant wood
• Jim, who won a Commonwealth Games marathon gold medal for Scotland
• Cabinet wood, perhaps
• Jim, Scottish winner of the Common-wealth Games marathon in nineteen sixty six
• Fender Stratocaster wood