Trees are being planted in Halstead in memory of a man who fought to save the native elm trees in the district.

Melvyne Crow a former landscape and countryside manager for Braintree Council, worked with the Forestry Commission and timber industry experts to try to halt the Dutch elms disease, which wiped out 25 million trees in the 1960s.

He took cuttings from trees that appeared to be immune from the disease.

About 50 elms grew in the Braintree district from the cuttings he took.

Mr Crow also played a key role in the development of the Colne Valley Conservation Project.

Mr Crow, of Church Street, Bocking, died on August last year, aged 65, following complications connected with kidney problems.

On Wednesday, Braintree Council’s landscaping services will be planting two native disease resistant elms in Halstead Public Gardens in memory of him.

An English elm at John Ray Wood, in Braintree, was planted in Melvyne’s memory last year.