Friends of the Oakthorpe, Donisthorpe and Acresford (ODA) Memorial Gardens, have launched their activities to improve the Parish Memorial Gardens and are keen to involve local groups.

Working with the local college, schools, Guides and youth groups, the volunteers have planted several fruit trees to form a boundary for the new Sensory Garden that is to be created as part of the site's rejuvenation.

The trees had been kindly donated by Tesco Superstore, Ashby de la Zouch and individual members of the Parish.

The first, a 'Stella' Cherry Tree was put in place just before the Easter holidays, but only weeks after planting the volunteers were left upset after it was totally destroyed being torn into pieces and uprooted, undoing the good work that had recently taken place.

Jamie Wilde, Chair of Friends of the ODA Memorial Gardens commented: "It is so frustrating, when we are working so hard to improve our local environment for everyone to enjoy, that thoughtless individuals undo all that work in a matter of minutes."

Not ones for giving up, the group has continued with the help and support of the young people of the parish to plant the remaining fruit trees.

In the meantime, Friends are looking to try and replace the demolished tree, within their budget.

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"Unfortunately, these are proving a little out of reach for us at the present time. We were so pleased to have been given the trees in the first place," said Jamie.

The group has only been officially running a little over a year and have limited funds available.

Undeterred, the volunteers have plenty of fundraising events planned in the garden over the summer months.

They have also been selected for the Co-op Local Community Fund for the current year and are hoping to boost their efforts through the scheme to begin the hard landscaping on site later in the year.

If you have a Co-op membership card, you can help by selecting their cause through the Co-op online HERE.

Also, if you would like to be involved, can help the group in any way, or would like to know more about the project, please email: [email protected] for more information.