CHILDREN who took part in a tree planting ceremony yesterday should be around to see it bear fruit in years to come.

Members of the Northern Fruit Group presented symbolic apple trees, a hardy vine and a fig tree to the dean and chapter of Durham Cathedral.

Three White Melrose apple trees were planted alongside a crab apple tree, which will act as a pollinator, on College Green, at the rear of the cathedral.

The northern hardy grape vine and brown Turkey fig were planted nearby, by the oldest and youngest members of the Chorister School.

With some of their classmates looking on, head boy Alex Duell, 13, and four-year-old Amy Lumsden were told why the hardy plants were selected for the ceremony.

Brian Gable, honorary secretary of the Northern Fruit Group, said Northumbrian saint Cuthbert, whose remains are buried at the cathedral, was trained as a novice at Melrose Abbey, in the Borders.

The White Melrose, a culinary apple, is believed to have been raised by the Brothers of the abbey.

Mr Gable said the vine and fig feature in a passage in the Old Testament by the prophet Micah, calling for peace on Earth.

Canon David Kennedy said prayers, dedicating and blessing the plants, before they were put in place.

He said: "A tree planting ceremony is a wonderful, creative thing to do. It is the sort of thing a Christian community should be striving to do."

Fruit group member Hilary Wilson, who donated the young White Melrose tree, said it should yield its first apples within five years, ensuring some of the younger Chorister pupils may benefit from the fruits of their labours.