It was third time lucky when the Devon Branch of the charity, Men of the Trees, organised a mass tree planting with 200 children from 15 local schools. The previous two occasions had to be postponed because of bad weather and the event finally took place on 3rd March 1966.
According to a report in the Evening Herald the following day, the tree species included red oak, English oak, various maples, lime, trees of heaven, silver birch, various sorbus, London plane, white poplar, weeping ash and golden elm. They were planted in the area between the old swimming pool – now the Events Field – and Alma Road.
The Lord Mayor, Alderman P D Pascho, led the event by planting the first tree, a Canadian Red Oak, in memory of Sir Winston Churchill which is still there today although some of the others have succumbed to disease or damage.
The schools which took part were Plymouth High School for Girls, Tamar Secondary, Burleigh, Burrington, Crownhill, Efford, Laira, Penlee, Prince Rock, Valletort Secondary Modern, Hyde Park, Plym View Juniors, Ford Primary, Hartley House School and Woodlands Special School.