Orchard tribute to little Oliver

12:30pm Tuesday 18th November 2008

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CHILDREN at Westbury Infants School have raised enough money to buy an orchard in memory of a former student who tragically died.

Oliver Ladd, from Hawkeridge near Westbury, who was born with Down’s Syndrome, died in January after losing his fight with leukaemia at the age of five.

In May, pupils at the Eden Vale Road primary school raised more than £1,000 in a football fun day to pay for an orchard in Oliver’s memory, which will be planted tomorrow.

Headteacher Jan Ball said: “The site used to have some old apple trees which were coming to the end of their life so we thought we would turn it into an orchard in memory of Oliver.

“We were donated an apple and a pear tree by B&Q and we are digging in three apple trees, three pear trees and three plum trees, as well as a special apple tree called ‘smiler’ for Oliver.

“I was hoping we could find a tree called Oliver or Ladd but we found one called ‘smiler’ and we thought that was aptly named because he was always smiling.”

The school has also created four raised beds for each year group and the children have planted daffodils.

“Another nice thing that’s happened is that one of the trustees from the Colerne Music Trust, Mr Roger Priest, came in to see the children and gave us a grant for new musical equipment, which was a direct result of the Wiltshire Times’ coverage of our football fundraiser.” Mrs Ball added.