HUNDREDS of schoolchildren descended on an Army base to join in a flourishing garden project that will bring old military boots back to life.

Members of 6 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps, based at Dishforth, are running a ‘Boot Camp’ competition involving seven North Yorkshire schools who are being given decommissioned Army boots to plant flowers in.

The competition is part of a wider initiative involving the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) which will see the Logistic Corps enter a garden in the Harrogate Flower Show in April and the Harlow Carr Show in June.

Some of the children’s boots will form part of the show garden, which will be reconstructed back at the Dishforth base as a memorial garden after it has been displayed.

The boots represent the need for the garden to be moved around – reflecting the soldiers’ having to move to different postings – and the memorial space will take inspiration from calming Japanese gardens.

Padre James Harding, a driving force behind the scheme, said the idea has grown in scale thanks to the support of businesses, sponsors and the involvement of Help for Heroes and the RHS.

It initially started as a simple plan to create a memorial garden at the Dishforth base but has evolved to include the shows and involve the local and military community.

Padre Harding said: “The garden will be a place for the soldiers, families, schoolkids to come and use.

“It will help the soldiers find a bit of quiet, maybe to pray, maybe to reflect and just feel like they have got away from the camp for a little bit.”

He added: “We want to really connect with the local community and not just be a community of 1,000 people living on the outskirts that doesn’t really connect with anybody else.”

More than 300 children attended the Boot Camp open day at the Dishforth base on Tuesday where they met with members of the Corps and were given guidance by gardening experts on how to cultivate their boots.

Tania Garner, a teacher at Kirby Hill Primary School, said the youngsters were delighted to be involved.

She said: “The idea of a memorial garden is a lovely one and it feels special that we can be a part of it.”