WROUGHTON’S community spirit shined bright despite drizzly downpours on Saturday as dozens of villagers turned out to plant hundreds of trees in the village.

Around 40 people braved the rain to help out with the community event, which is now in its second year, by helping to plant the trees in fields north of Maunsell Way.

A total 16,000 trees have been planted in the area over the last few years in hope of creating a woodland between Wroughton and Wichelstowe.

Jane Lane, from Vision4Wroughton, who helped organise the event along with the parish council, said: “We are helping wildlife for a great start by planting these trees and we are helping to produce an environment that gives a home, food, shelter and security to so many species and it is important to see so many oak trees being planted.

“It is not only good for the environment but it is great for health reasons as the trees absorb all the nasties in the air and it gets people out walking, exercising, relaxing and de-stressing by bringing them together.

“By seeing so many people here I think people are starting to realise how important the trees are.

“It is quite healing for people too. People come here not to just plant a tree for the sake of it but some people get involved and plant a tree in memory of someone, or to mark a birthday or an anniversary and so planting a tree has all sorts of connotations for people.”

In a few years once the trees have grown in size, it is anticipated that there will be a chance to plant some wild flowers in the area and make the woodland a place the community can take pride in.

For people planting a tree, many were able to write names on the plastic tree shelter protecting the root so they can come back in a month, year or even two years to check on their growth.

Jonathan Wilshaw, community forest officer at Swindon Borough Council was on hand to show people how it was done.

“This is part of creating a reasonable sized woodland area and we have 16,000 trees planned for here,” he explained.

“We will look after them for the next three to four years until they are well-established and can look after themselves but this whole project is very important because local people are involved. It has given them a sense of ownership and that helps with the management in the future because if anyone notices any problems or issues, they will come back to us to help sort it out.”