THE FIRST autumn fair organised by volunteers from the Headley Down Nature Reserve Trust has been hailed a success, with some of the money raised set to go toward its next project.

Butterfly buns were a popular and appropriate choice among refreshments on offer at Woodlands Hall on October 26.

Along with the sale of homemade cakes, the tombola, raffle and table-top stalls, £850.50 was raised to continue the work of transforming part of the old Erie rubbish tip into a place to benefit wildlife and the public. Local businesses supplied prizes for the raffle and there were real bargains in the tombola, resulting in “plenty of happy winners of all ages”, according to volunteers.

The Methodist Homes for the Aged’s ‘Live at Home’ group donated the proceeds of their treasure hunt to the trust, while East Hampshire District Council supplied the hall. Some of the money raised will be put toward the trust’s next project, Erie Wood: Growing History, where 65 trees will be planted at the nature reserve, one for each of the huts that were located on the Canadian Erie Detention Camp during the Second World War.

After the war, the huts became homes for many local families until the 1970s when the Heatherlands Estate was built.

Each of the trees planted will be numbered and can be ‘adopted’ by families who lived in the hut with the same number. Some of these families still live locally and have already been contacted, but the current aim is to find other former residents who have moved away.

Remaining trees can be offered to people who have arrived more recently and wish to leave a family legacy for the future at the nature reserve. In the meantime, there is “always work to be done on the nature reserve and volunteers are very welcome”.