Saturday December 5 2009: Derry aka Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Today saw the city take the honours for yet another Guinness World Record.

This year as part of National Tree Week and the BBC’s Breathing Places Tree O’Clock Campaign, more than 100 volunteers were attempting to break a Guinness World Record for the most trees planted on one site, in one hour.

Competing with teams in Essex and Hertfordshire to better a World Record., the Derry team’s challenge was to plant more than 18,124 trees in one hour - a record currently held by a team of school children; the Forestry Commission Scotland, and BP staff in Aberdeenshire.

Their superb effort in planting 26,422 trees at Gransha Woods in Derry - beating the previous record by more than 8,000 - creates a new forest on the banks of the River Foyle. Essex had a final total of 20,312 while Herts did slightly better with planting 20,326.

Among those taking part, which included “Girls Aloud” star Nadine Coyle (who is from the City) were Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland (CVNI), firemen, athletes and other able bodied men and women.

Derry has been the BBC Breathing Places city in Northern Ireland since 2007. In that year Ivan Black Conservation Projects Development Officer from the CVNI and his team built a Breathing Places garden overnight in the Guildhall Square. That garden is now at Gransha woods. Now alongside the ancient woodland at Gransha a new wood will be born at the back of the Waterside Hospital - leaving a permanent Breathing Places legacy in the city.

In 2007 Derry became Santa City for a Guinness World Record beating Liverpool, England and Las Vegas USA by a large margin.

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