Hedge work brings in £1,200

Hedgelayer Desmond Whitington has raised more than £1,200 for Uckfield Community Hospital and tidied up the view on a road out of town through his hobby.

Mr Whitington (61), from Blackboys has cut a stretch of hedge which was 18 feet high down to a neat four foot six inch stock proof barrier.

The hedge can be seen as you travel down Bell Lane towards the A22 and look up over the Copwood roundabout at the end of it.

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'All we need now is for the county council to cut back the grass on the bank and it will look even better,' said Mr Whitington, a founder member of the South of England Hedge Laying Society.

The 90 metre stretch of hedge had been offered as a training area but was not long enough and so Mr Whitington said he would do the work himself if he could raise sponsorship for the hospital at the same time.

The farmer gave the stakes and binders and the money came in. Mr Whitington said both he and his wife Sandra have had operations at the Uckfield hospital and this was a way of saying thank you.

Royalty

This has been a successful year for Mr Whitington, a retired railway worker. He was presented to the Queen at the South of England Show, and he spoke to the Prince of Wales at the national championships where he was second in his class. Mr Whitington is the veteran hedge-laying champion for the South of England.

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Mr Whitington presented his cheque to the hospital on Friday. The money will be used to buy an adaptor for a camera system used in examinations with a laparoscope a fibre optic instrument inserted through the abdominal wall to give a view of the organs some probes and other small theatre instruments.

Manager Eva Merry said: 'Mr Whitington's skills have raised a magnificent sum for the hospital. We greatly appreciate his support and that of his sponsors. Local patients will benefit from the new equipment we will buy with the money he has raised.'

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