Broadband engineers plant more than 700 trees in Mansfield Woodhouse

The Openreach engineers volunteered to plant the trees in Maun Valley Park, which is part of the historic Sherwood Forest, the legendary hideout of Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

The tree-planting initiative is a joint project with The Sherwood Forest Trust aimed at helping combat climate change and preserving the Maun Valley, a popular beauty spot for local people.

Maun Valley Park local nature reserve covers 17 hectares of protected habitats alongside the River Maun, comprising ancient oak woodland, grassland, water meadows, riverside and wetland habitats.

The river has historically played an important role in the development of Mansfield as a town, as it supplied the waterpower for local mills.

Fibre team leader Ben Coales, who led Openreach’s work, said: “Our team can spend a few days each year volunteering and we all agreed it would be a good use of our time to support the Sherwood Forest Trust.

“They’re carrying out important conservation work at Maun Valley Park, an area many of us know well.

“Being a local team, we wanted to put something back into our area, and we look forward to watching the newly-planted trees grow in years to come.

“We’re spending a lot of time in and around Mansfield at the moment as we build our new full fibre broadband network, covering most of the town."

In recent months, engineers have been busy working in Mansfield and in nearby Chesterfield, Newark, Nottingham and Worksop.