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Covid memorial woodland thriving five years on

BBC Farm manager Kirsty Cropper with blond hair and green wax waterproof coat smiling with the trees planted in the background BBC
Farm manager Kirsty Cropper said the Remembrance Woods had become a special place for loved ones to get together

A memorial woodland set up on a farm in memory of people who died of coronavirus is flourishing five years on from the first lockdown.

More than 1,200 trees were planted in the Remembrance Woods at Blackburns Farm in Wrea Green, Lancashire, to help people pay tribute to a loved one at a time when groups were not permitted gather together and attendance at funerals was restricted.

Farm manager Kirsty Cropper said it had become a special place for families and friends to get together.

"They still visit those trees now and it was kind of a place to remember but also celebrate life," she said.

Trees growing which were planted in a woodland on a farm in Wrea Green.
More than 1,200 trees have been planted in the Remembrance Woods at Blackburns Farm

She told BBC North West Tonight: "We are not a graveyard - it is more a space to come and think about the people you have love and lost."

Bernard Pendleton, chairman of the RHS North West in Bloom competition, volunteered to plant some of the trees at Blackburns Farm during lockdown.

He said it was a long-lasting tribute and would be a "wildlife oasis" in years to come.

"As the trees continue to grow and develop the whole green space and the nature areas and habitats will be absolutely superb," Mr Pendleton said.

Bernard Pendleton wearing a blue flat cap, black rimmed glasses and black waterproof coat with the woodland behind him
Bernard Pendleton said the woodland would be a "wildlife oasis" in future years

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