THE seeds have been sown for future generations of Borderers to remember those who died in WW1 with the planting of a memorial avenue.

Tom Rawson, a teacher from St Mary’s School, led the planting of around 45 trees along Annay Road, between Melrose and Newstead, on Thursday.

He was joined by local school children and Melrose residents following a poster campaign in the town looking for volunteers to help.

Around 60 youngsters turned out including classes from nearby St Mary’s School who, along with their teachers, helped put the saplings in place.

Copper beech trees were used to create the memorial, chosen for their reddish-purple foliage to tie in with the colours of remembrance.

Tom explained that he wanted to create a lasting natural monument dedicated to those local men who fought and died in the First World War noting that most of the monuments in the Borders are man-made.

He said: “The children involved today have created something they can enjoy over decades to come when they drive by.

"They might forget about the trees for a few years but once they grow and can be seen from the road, the children will know that they were involved in creating the memorial; they will see it develop over time.

“The centenary of the end of the war is probably the last big anniversary where people will feel a personally connection to the people who died be it their grandparents, great grandparents and so on.

“There were 34 boys who had been educated at St Mary’s who went off to fight and never came back.

"Considering that the school was only founded in 1895 and by the war only around a hundred boys had been at the school, this was a significant number and it’s important for the school to remember them now.”

Support for the project came from the Borders Forest Trust and the Tweed Forum.

Nicky Hume from Borders Forest Trust was on hand to help with the planting.

She said: “Tom came to us because he wanted to plant trees and that’s what we do; we plant native woodland throughout the Borders.

“We were able to give him a Borders Tree Grant which is available to any community group or school who want to plant native trees.”

Tom added: “Applying for funding was really easy and people have been supportive of the project. It was straightforward to get permission from the landowners including farmers and the rugby club, who have been great.”

A memorial stone for the First World War Centenary Avenue has also been created and will be put in place once the appropriate permissions have been sought.

As well as organising the memorial avenue, Tom has also been involved in another Borders remembrance project through the group Green Tweed Eco.

As part of his work, he is attempting to get 1918 oaks growing from seeds in primary schools across the region. So far Lauder and Melrose primaries are involved in the project, each having a tree nursery growing 420 oaks.

Any schools interested in growing oaks as part of the 1918 Oaks project are invited to contact Tom through the group’s Instagram page @greentweedeco.