A STALWART of the National Trust was officially remembered at a ceremony at Berrington Hall near Leominster.

Anne Richards, a member of the local NT supporters group Herefordshire & The Marches Association, was remembered at a tree planting ceremony.

Anne died at the age of 90 after thirty years of dedicated voluntary work with the group.

With a small group of enthusiasts, she was instrumental in the 1980s in setting up the local group, becoming its Vice-Chair and Programme Secretary.

Group Secretary Ann Pearson, said: “Anne still held these positions thirty years later.

"During that time she organised many outings and talks for members, and an annual holiday. Each event helped to raise a small profit, which our group donated to Trust.

"Our donations to NT now total £43,000. It shows the difference dedicated volunteers can make.”

Berrington Hall was chosen for the ceremony because it was where the local group had its very first meeting in 1988. Volunteers met Croft Castle & Berrington Hall Ranger Tomos Holloway to hand over a further donation of £300 and to plant three oak trees.

Tomos said: “Nearly 350 trees are being replanted in guards across the Berrington Hall estate as part of the parkland replanting project.

"The purpose is to restore the parkland to how Lancelot Brown would have designed it, by taking the first OS map after the completion of the parkland, and replanting the missing trees.

"The large majority of the trees being planted are Oak (80-90%), with the remainder being a mixture of Beech, Small Leaf Lime, Horse Chestnut, Hawthorn and Holly.

"This year is the final year of the project, with the last 75 guards and trees being built and planted”.