Cola army pops up to plant a wood

Spades in hand, Susan Renshaw and Jo Ford-Mills (front) lead the team of Coca-Cola champions to plant 600 trees

AN ARMY of volunteers helped a conservationist plant 600 trees to create a new woodland haven in Diggle.

A mass of young saplings were delivered to the land on Huddersfield Road by the Woodland Trust including oak, willow, ash and birch trees.

But it was down to helpers from Coca-Cola to roll up their sleeves and pick up their spades to lend a hand.

The idea was the brainchild of Kathleen Pearson, who wanted to leave something behind for future generations and so decided to plant out more than an acre of land.

Kathleen said: “Eventually we will build a path down to the area we’re calling Thorns Beck Wood, where there will be benches for people to sit, relax and just enjoy the space.

“There were so many trees but I don’t have 600 friends so the help from Coca-Cola was really appreciated, it was a brilliant day.

“We plan to chronicle the amount of wildlife that we see in the wood, it will be fantastic for local species.”

The Coca-Cola helpers were recruited through Oldham Volunteers as part of the company’s drive to support sustainability projects in local communities.

Kathleen, (62), who lives in Denton, bought the land in Huddersfield Road in 1982 as a place to keep her horses.

In May this year she registered The Digglers Charitable Trust to take care for sick or maltreated cats and sheep and promote conservation.

Kathleen has funded the project from her own pocket, creating a memory garden for deceased animals and pulling together a raft of volunteers known as the Land Army.

The determined charity champion even travels to Diggle twice a day as well as juggling her day job and setting up a folk group to promote the charity.

She said: “We perform little ditties about the projects and have even got videos on YouTube”.

Kathleen is looking forward to seeing the trees grow with experts predicting the wood should be established within 12 years.

To help the charity or for more information visit www.thedigglers.co.uk.