DARTON College pupils have this week been busily planting trees and digging flower beds in preparation to turn a piece of land into a memorial garden.

The students were joined by locals in Kexbrough as they tidied up the land on Brookhill Road.

The idea is that the land will become a community memorial garden and people will be able to plant trees and flowers and erect benches in memory of their loved ones.

Teacher Jason Gardner said it had been two years in the pipeline.

“We started working with Coun Linda Burgess and identified some land, then spent a lot of time trying to work out who owned it.

“We were going to turn it into a wildlife area, but that idea fell flat because the community didn’t get behind it.

“We had a meeting at the school and a community garden and memorial was suggested and it’s taken off from there.

“It’s going to be a nice area for the Kexbrough community to garden and put some benches. Anyone can go and plant a little bush in memory of their loved ones.

“In the long term we’re going to get in touch with the Royal British Legion to see if we could have a memorial for the people who have died in the war.

“I think we’ll be leaving some of it to go wild to attract some birds and wildlife to the area, but this week has just been about preparing the land.”