WATCH: Community singalong to celebrate return of Knaresborough land

About 100 people joined in the singing this week to celebrate public access returning to 60 acres of land in Knaresborough for the first time in more than 250 years.

The Knaresborough Forest Park appeal successfully raised £864,000 to buy nine fields close to the Beryl Burton cycleway.

The land, which was once hunting land in the ancient Forest of Knaresborough, was lost to the public when the Enclosure Act 1773 removed access to commoners.

It is now owned by the public and managed by the committee of nearby community-owned nature reserve Long Londs Common.

The two schemes together create a green corridor against development between Harrogate and Knaresborough.

At a celebration to mark the success of the Knaresborough Forest Park campaign on Tuesday, about 100 supporters helped to plant the first tree and then joined in a singalong to the Woody Guthrie protest song This Land is Your Land.

Arnold Warneken, the Green Party councillor for Ouseburn, handed out locally-adapted lyrics then played the guitar while those present joined in. 

You can read a feature about Tuesday's celebration and the campaign to buy the land here.

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