Police donation helps to create Battle community orchard

Battle will soon have the benefit of a Community Orchard, thanks to the hard work of the National Trust and money donated from the Police Property Act Fund.

After local Police Community Support Officer Julie Pearce-Martin stopped to chat with the National Trust rangers earlier in the year she found out that they had spent some three years preparing a field in the hope of planting a community orchard.

As a result she secured a £300 donation from the Police Property Act Fund (PPAF) made up of monies received by the police from property confiscated by order of the courts and then sold.

It has meant 24 fruit trees being planted, all of which are rare varieties of apple, pear and damson trees, such as Shropshire Pride, Farleigh Damson and Bishop’s Thumb, which are in danger of dying out.