'Wood for war heroes' plan for Blackburn's Witton Park

A WOOD in memory of war heroes is to be planted in a Blackburn park.

A total of 420 saplings have been donated to local environmental group Beauty In The Environment as part of the Woodland Trust’s Jubliee Woods project.

Volunteers are now needed to plant the small silver birches, hawthorns and dogwood trees two-by-two alongside the River Darwen in Witton Park.

Adam Whittaker, 35, of Beauty in the Environment, said: “When I heard about the Woodland Trust’s project, it smelled like an opportunity.

“It’s a way of getting schoolchildren and their parents involved in environmental sciences, and learning about climate change and the effects of industrialisation.

“The timing of getting the trees also happened to fall near to Remembrance Day and I thought it would be nice to link the trees to that idea.

“The trees have symbolism as they live a long time and we should never forget about the sacrifices made by soldiers.

“I want to invite a member of the Royal British Legion to do the first sod cutting, because I think it’s important we keep them in the limelight.”

A sod cutting ceremony for the wood, called Poppyfield, is due to takes place on December 1. It is expected to attract councillors, Blackburn MP Jack Straw and representatives of Blackburn Rovers Football Club.

School pupils and interested members of the public will be invited to help plant at a date to be announced.

The Jubilee Woods aims to see six million trees planted to celebrate the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth ll's 2012 Diamond Jubilee.

There will also be 60 special Diamond Woods, including a new flagship wood in the heard of the The National Forest in Leicestershire.