Cherry trees planted at Cardiff's Bute Park after vandal attack

School pupil Alexander, aged 10, helped plant one of the 20 cherry trees

Cherry trees gifted from Japan are being planted after vandals wrecked more than 50 trees at a city park.

The trees, many of which were memorials, were sawn down or snapped and plants were uprooted at Cardiff's Bute Park in September.

The Japanese Cherry trees, or Sakura, were donated as part of a friendship project between Wales and Japan.

About 100 have been planted in the city's Heath Park, with 1,000 set to be gifted to the nation by March.

South Wales Police said several people must have been involved in the vandalism on the night of Thursday, 9 September.

However, the force said it had so far failed to identify the culprits despite public appeals and after checking CCTV footage.

Following the attack, it was agreed that some of the trees donated through a Sakura Cherry Tree Project - launched as part of the Japan-UK Season of Culture - should be given to Bute Park.

"I hope these plantings, particularly at this current time, will be embraced by our communities for the future," said Keith Dunn, honorary consul for Japan in Wales.

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School pupil Gursharan, 11, helped to plant one of the trees during Wednesday's ceremony

Speaking at Wednesday's ceremony, project chairman Keisaku Sandy Sano, said: "We are delighted you have kindly accepted our present.

"We are looking to keep our good relationship going for years to come."

Park manager Julia Sas said the vandalism felt "like an attack on the community".

"To have been selected to have these trees specifically so the people of Japan could show their solidarity at that time, was lovely," she said.

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