YOUNGSTERS marked Tu B'Shvat, the Jewish New Year of Trees, by raising hundreds of pounds to replace plants destroyed in a forest fire in Israel.

The young people at Norwood’s Kennedy Leigh Family Centre, in Hendon, and Buckets and Spades Lodge, in Finchley, made flowers with brightly coloured tissue paper and attached pipe cleaners for the stems.

The flowers were then each sold for £1 by staff at several Norwood centres around the capital, which provide education, after-school clubs and services such as adoption support.

Around £200 was raised and will go towards planting trees in Mount Carmel, where Israel’s worst wildfire killed over 40 people and destroyed over 1.5 million trees in December.

The money will also be used to provide plants for Norwood’s family centres and residential homes.

Shoshana Bloom, the charity’s cultural manager, said: “Jewish life is at the core of what we do and it is so inspiring to see how the children and young people supported by Norwood have worked together and given staff the chance to make a difference to the environment this Tu B’shvat.”