A town council has praised community-spirited tree surgeons who donated their time free of charge to help clear up after St Jude’s storm.

In the direct aftermath of the storm, Sudbury Town Council faced a significant clean-up operation as trees and debris fell across roads and pathways in the town.

The high winds also dislodged two big trees close to the boating pond on The Croft, which had come down and were blocking the public footpath that leads to the well-known water meadows.

According to deputy town clerk Jacqui Howells, one of the fallen trees was being held up by the other, making it quite dangerous.

There were also several trees which had fallen into the River Stour causing an obstruction.

So the town council asked several local tree surgeons for quotes to remove the trees, and was told that the work would cost in the region of £3,000.

But two of the companies, Timberscape and JP’s Utilities Ltd offered to work together to carry out the task free of charge as a goodwill gesture for the community.

On Friday, a team of volunteers from both firms removed the unstable trees, winched out the ones that had fallen in the river, logged any suitable wood and chipped the rest. The wood will be bagged up and sold by the town council and any money raised will go to this year’s mayor’s chosen charities.

Town mayor Adrian Osborne said: “It’s great that these two companies have given up their valuable time and resources to help the town council remove the fallen trees from The Croft.

“It’s really community-spirited and the town council is extremely grateful for this kind contribution.”