YOUNGSTERS gathered for a tree planting service at a village church this week.

Key stage two pupils from Ingleton CE primary school joined in a service to plant a yew tree sapling, taken from a 2000-year-old tree, at St John's churchyard.

The children gave readings and performed songs at the ceremony as part of the yews for the millennium scheme organised by the Conservation Foundation.

The scheme aims to plant a yew sapling in every parish throughout the country.

One of the children, ten-year-old Sarah Green, dressed as a tree to read a history of the yew at 500-year intervals from 1000BC to the present day.

The yew is the oldest living thing in Britain and has become a symbol of Christianity at churchyards over the centuries.

The school's head teacher, Mrs Judith Pressley, said: "We have a very close relationship with St John's church, and the vicar, the Rev David Elleanor, invited us to take part in the planting ceremony.

"The children have done a lot of research into their hopes for the future, and the planting of this tree is very poignant for the school in the millennium year of the Christian calendar."