Spruce weaving baskets and for sewing together pieces of birch bark for canoes. See also Kiidk'yaas for an unusual golden Sitka Spruce sacred to the Haida people. Spruces are popular ornamental trees in horticulture, admired for their evergreen, symmetrical narrow-conic growth habit. For the same reason, some (particularly "Picea abies" and "P. omorika") are also extensively used as Christmas trees, with artificial Christmas trees often being produced in their likenesses. Spruce branches are also used at Aintree racecourse, Liverpool, to build several of the fences on the Grand National course. It is also used to make sculptures. The closely related species
1977 Grand National the opportunity for the BBC to get the thoughts of a Grand National-winning jockey while in the act of making history was lost. 1977 Grand National The 1977 Grand National (known as the "News of the World" Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 131st renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 2 April 1977. The race is best remembered for being Red Rum's third Grand National win, a record that still stands today. He completed the course in 9 minutes 30.3 seconds and went off as 9/1 joint-favourite. Before