TREES in a Bournemouth park were adorned with ribbons, knitwear, toys, and other decorations as part of two national events.

Schools and community groups helped decorate trees in Knyveton Gardens as part of Tree Dressing Day 2017.

On Friday, the mayor of Bournemouth, Cllr Lawrence Williams, and ward councillors tied red ribbons on an acer tree to mark World Aids Day. The swathes of fabric resembled the autumn leaves that recently dropped from the branches.

It comes as one in five British adults said they would feel uncomfortable wearing a red ribbon on World Aids Day, a YouGov survey suggested.

This is despite the release of new figures from Public Health England earlier this year, which showed an 18% drop in the number of newly-diagnosed people with HIV from 2015 to 2016 - the largest fall on record.

Friends of Knyveton Gardens organised the event on World Aids Day and were joined by members of groups including Space Youth Project, Over the Rainbow, and Body Positive Dorset.

Linda Pain, of East Cliff United Reformed Church, said a prayer and gave a reading.

Meanwhile, to celebrate Tree Dressing Day 2017, local schools and nurseries joined other community organisations to decorate around 14 trees in the park with a variety of items.

Tree Dressing Day started in London in 1990 and, since then, groups and individuals have dressed trees all over the country in December.

Litter picking group Dorset Devils hung buckets and spades and other plastic items from one tree to highlight the amount of litter that is left on Dorset’s beaches.

The charity Dorset Children’s Foundation decorated another tree with teddy bears and hearts to represent the work it does to support poorly and disabled children and their families.

Mike Barling, of Friends of Knyveton Gardens, said: “This is the first year we’ve done this, and it’s meant people have been able to come together and take ownership of the gardens and make them a fun place to visit.

“The council’s diversity and equality manager supplied the ribbons to decorate the tree for World Aids Day.

“I think the council should do a similar thing across the town to get the community involved. It could replace the Candlelight Nights.”