A COUNTRY park got a helping hand from volunteers in controlling overgrown rhododendrons.

Forty people joined three park rangers in clearing the shrub from Brewers Wood in Shorne Wood Country Park.

The group used pruning saws, secateurs and loppers to remove the shrub as part of the park's Conservation Day.

Countryside officer John Craig says rhododendrons stop other plants growing and spread through the park after the Victorians used it to line the sides of the carriageways to London.

He said: "We are trying to bring it to controlled areas."