The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association plants more than 1,000 trees in Heartwood Forest

The Watford branch of a national Muslim association spent a day helping to plant more than eight thousand trees in a nearby forest.

More than 200 members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association took part in the event, at Heartwood Forest in St Albans on Saturday.

They braved the inclement weather to plant more than 1,000 trees at the new 345-hectare site.

Elders of the Muslim community, named Majlis Ansarullah (MAA), joined dozens of other volunteers in an effort to help create the largest new native forest in England.

Louise Neicho, woodland officer for Heartwood Forest, said: “On average it takes two volunteers six minutes to plant a tree. The members of MAA worked like a whirlwind.