Volunteers are key to clean-up operation at Yeovil Country Park

WORK on clearing up the damage caused by the winter storms at Yeovil Country Park could take several months – but it would taken even longer without the support of an army of volunteers.

Members of South Somerset District Council’s Area South committee were told that the country park – more commonly known to locals as Ninesprings – saw a large amount of trees ripped out and damaged by the gale force storms.

The council’s countryside manager Rachael Whaites told councillors that the storm damage suffered by the Yeovil Country Park had been “pretty awful.”

“We’ve had about 60 trees throughout the site come down – a significant amount,” she said. “Normally we’d have three or four over a winter.”

She explained that the trees which had come down not only had to be cleared, but that the debris had also caused problems with blocking paths and damaging fencing.

Rachael said it could take several months to get things back to normal at the country park.

But she added: “The volunteers we’ve got have been key. There is no way we could do anything without them.”

Rachael said in a report that the volunteers were “instrumental” in helping the countryside rangers to keep on top of maintenance works at the council’s countryside sites across the district.

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Yeovil Country Park's Facebook page.

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