A NATURE area in Colne which was vandalised last week could soon be flourishing once more after a story in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph led to a member of the public donating 11 trees.

Liz Richens-Smith, of Haslingden Old Road, Rawtenstall, read about the 43 trees at the top of Alkincoats Park being hacked apart in last Thursday's newspaper and decided she wanted to help out.

She donated two alder, seven birch and two willow trees which were planted in the nature area yesterday by Liz and members of the Friends of Alkincoats Park.

Liz, 32, a member of the Wildlife Trust, said: "I read the story in the Telegraph and I have a moderately sized garden full of plants as I grow things from seeds. Any time there's a tree planting somewhere I take along some of my own trees for them to use.

"Because of the foot and mouth a lot of the autumn events were cancelled last year so I didn't know what to do with them. When I read about the trees being destroyed I couldn't believe someone could do something so heartless.

"It was 3am when I read the story because I work nights so the next day I rang Karen, the park ranger, and asked her if she wanted some of my trees. The whole point of me growing them in pots is so that they can be planted out at some point so this seemed an environmentally friendly thing to do.

"I will definitely be coming back to see how they are doing."

Vandals used a saw to chop down the original trees leaving two-foot stumps and a pile of trees piled ready to set alight.

The area contained a mixture of trees such as oak and ash which were planted almost ten years ago with funding from the Forestry Commission.

Pendle Council's parks department estimated it would cost £100 a tree to replace them like for like so the donation of the 11 trees, which are between three and seven years old, was a welcome surprise.

Karen Hutchinson, park ranger for Colne, said: "I was over the moon when I got the phone call. Something good has come out of something bad and Liz is very generous.

"We have planted them in the same spot to fill in the gap and Liz was very keen and helped plant them too."

Donald Mitchell, chairman of the Friends of Alkincoats Park, arranged for volunteers to help plant the young trees.

He said: "We are delighted with Liz's generosity and I was very pleased to hear there would be some more trees planted here. The majority of people do care about things but unfortunately there are those that don't.

"We got together a small party of volunteers to clear up the area and do some planting."

Police in Colne have stepped up surveillance in the area and if anyone sees anyone causing a nuisance or damaging the nature area they should contact the police on 01282 425001.