VOLUNTEERS are being sought for a work party tomorrow to help improve the Hirst Wood community beauty spot in Shipley.

The award-winning Hirst Wood Regeneration Group is holding a three-hour clear-up session on a one acre site at the bottom of Hirst Lane beside the canal locks starting at 11am.

The group is flushed with success after recently gaining £25,000 of funds from waste management group Biffa and two weeks ago receiving a Duke of York’s Community Initiative Award.

“There was no money in that one, it was about kudos and means we can use the white rose of Yorkshire on our letter headings, which is wonderful,” said the group’s secretary, Pauline Bradley-Sharp.

She said the latest project was to make a nature area with a pond, dipping platform and duck boarding.

“There will also be winding paths with trees of different colours and shapes, bushes, bulbs and wild flowers.”

Other plans include a bird hide made of living willow and a bench, a hedge of 500 plants to feed birds and insects, an amphitheatre seating area under a 400-year-old oak, seating areas and a children’s planting bed.

“What we really need to complete the project is help towards buying trees and plants so we would gratefully accept any donations or sponsorships of trees and benches or packets of wildflower seeds, which are so expensive to buy along with bushes and bulbs,” said Mrs Bradley-Sharp.

More details are available from the group’s website hirstwoodrg.co.uk