A COMMUNITY'S 20-year campaign for a first class recreational area came to an end yesterday with the unveiling of a millennium green.

Two local schoolgirls took centre stage as residents of east Thirsk saw the town's green area opened.

Chloe Smith and Caroline Gabbott unveiled a specially engraved boulder on the green, which is made up of a network of footpaths and a kickabout area.

New trees and shrubs have also been planted, the beck cleared and an improved footbridge installed on the 3.7 acre site.

At the centre of the green is a mosaic, made by local people under the guidance of Rural Arts North Yorkshire, depicting the town's landmarks.

The £56,000 project, coordinated by the Thirsk Millennium Green Trust, was funded by Hambleton District Council, the Countryside Commission, Thirsk Rotary Club and Yorventure. Trust chairman and town and district councillor, Jan Marshall, said: "The millennium green is the realisation of a dream and the people of Thirsk have waited 20 years for it to become available.

"The trustees had always maintained we would have it established and opened in the new millennium year.

"We have achieved that, so we are highly delighted."

The need for such an area was established in 1980, but Hambleton council could only purchase the site, in the centre of a housing estate, two years ago.

The trust was formed in 1996 to lodge a bid for funding from the Countryside Commission, which developed the millennium green concept.

Coun Marshall said: "We were one of 23 pilot millennium greens in the country and it is a privilege to have such a beautiful and useful green space for the community to enjoy.

"It's lovely to have this kind of facility in an urban area.

"It has been a long slog and a lot of hard work, both physically in planting trees and digging the hole for the mosaic, and in terms of organisation and getting everything into place, but we have got there."

Coun Marshall said public consultation had been a key feature of the development of the project, particularly with the design of the mosaic.

"It was part of the grant conditions that we had to have a millennium related feature.

"The trustees were very interested in the idea of a mosaic, so we set up some workshop sessions to allow local people to decide on the design.

"The design represented items that are growing and living on the millennium green and important buildings in Thirsk and Sowerby."

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