| More than 100 shovel-wielding nature
lovers dug for victory in Northern Ireland as they broke the
world record for the most number of trees planted in an hour.
The band of hardy conservationists, which included Girls
Aloud star Nadine Coyle, managed to plant 26,422 trees in
the horticultural challenge on the banks of the River Foyle
near the singer's hometown of Londonderry.
Verified by Guinness adjudicators, the marathon effort at
Gransha Park beat the previous record by more than 8,000.
The Derry team, which was organised by the Conservation Volunteers,
were up against two rival record attempts in England as part
of the BBC's Breathing Places Tree O'Clock campaign.
However, the simultaneous bids in Essex and Hertfordshire
fell just short - planting 20,312 and 20,326 respectively.
There were also smaller scale efforts undertaken all across
the UK, including one at the home of the Northern Ireland
parliament at Stormont.
Sue Holden, chief executive of The Woodland Trust thanked
all those who took part. "Together we are all record breakers,"
she said. "Congratulations to Northern Ireland and to all
our teams and supporters for a fantastic effort.
"Today, 26,422 trees have been planted, beating the current
Guinness World Record of 18,124, which is a phenomenal achievement.
As part of Tree O'Clock the Woodland Trust will have planted
over 70,000 trees across the UK today - enough trees to cover
5,000 football pitches.
"This figure, combined with all the hundreds of thousands
of other trees planted by individuals at many sites and in
back gardens, will go on having lasting benefits for native
wildlife, for people and our environment for generations to
come.
"We have achieved all of this in just one hour - if
we can do all this in 60 minutes, imagine what we can do together
in the future. Today is just the start of a great journey
to a better future for all of us."
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