'You don't have to be Superman to style hedges'

More than 100 competitors put their chainsaw skills to the test at the national hedgelaying championships earlier.

They were cheered on by hundreds of spectators at Driffield's Elmswell Farms, showcasing 10 regional styles.

Josie Muncaster, 31, styles her hedges in that of her home county, Cheshire.

She said "you don't have to be Superman" to take up the activity, but that she no longer "needs to go to the gym, which is nice".

Having taken up the activity in a previous job, she said the "main driver" for continuing to hedgelay are the "benefits to nature" provided by the activity.

She said: "It's good for landscape management, which is good for rejuvenation of the hedge, which is then good for wildlife, good for carbon sequestration and good for flood alleviation."

The competition is being held in East Yorkshire for the first time in 45 years.

Young people attracted

Richard Preston, from the National Hedgelaying Society, which organises the competition, said the activity was starting to be seen as a "viable career option".

He said that more young people were being drawn to hedgelaying due to its benefits to the environment.

Mr Preston said that though the activity was "traditionally for keeping in livestock and protecting agricultural crops", hedges now provide "fantastic corridors for wildlife".

He added: "Today they are a fantastic resource for the natural environment."

Eric Wilkinson, who has been hedgelaying for about six years, said that although winning an award would be a bonus, the championships were "all about the camaraderie" and "seeing people I haven't seen for a few years".

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