NATURE-loving children helped launch a new woodland designed to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Tree planting took place at an eight-acre site next to the existing Stoulton Community Woodland near Pershore last Wednesday.

Children from St Barnabas First School in Drakes Broughton joined pupils from Pershore High School and representatives from Wychavon District Council to plant the first of 3,600 native trees in an event organised by the council and the Woodland Trust.

The new wood forms part of the trust’s Jubilee Woods project to plant six million trees to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The new woodland includes a wet woodland area alongside Haw Brook, traditional fruit trees and a ring of 60 oak trees in recognition of the Diamond Jubilee. It has been made possible with the help of a Forestry Commission grant.

Jim Burgin, heritage manager at Wychavon, said: “Our existing community woodland at Stoulton is already well used by local residents and wildlife and this project will provide a further area of new woodland for people to enjoy all that the countryside has to offer.” Councillor Richard Morris, chairman of Wychavon District Council, said: “We want this woodland to be at the heart of the local community. It’s been great to get local school children out planting trees and hopefully providing an experience that they will take away but also revisit as they watch the trees grow.” The new woodland can be accessed from an existing car park and all planting will be completed by the middle of March.