The authors of a book which sold out in less than three weeks before Christmas have donated their entire profit to the Isle of Man Woodland Trust.

The donation of £9,500 will pay for 1,900 saplings of native trees to be planted around the island this year.

Last year, the trust planted a record total of 7093 trees.

Artist Ian Coulson and retired journalist Valerie Cottle had 500 copies of ’Douglas in Passing’ printed, with the help of financial assistance from the Isle of Man Arts Council and Culture Vannin.

The book featured some seventy of Mr Coulson’s paintings of older buildings and streets around the town, complemented by a series of Valerie’s ’historical interludes’.

It flew off the shelves in November and December, helped by a popular exhibition of the original paintings in the former Topshop premises in Strand Street.

The authors had decided from the start that neither of them would take any money from the venture, and on Saturday they presented their cheque for the entire proceeds to Woodland Trust chairman Falk Horning.

Mr Horning said: ’Douglas in Passing was a fabulous exhibition and the book’s lively stories were a fascinating read with details of the town development in the background.

’With the donation we are in a great position to plant even more trees this year with benefits for wildlife, people and the attractiveness of our island.’

The Woodland Trust mostly plants on private land, 150 saplings minimum each event - in recent weeks at Dalby.

The trust buys all its saplings from ’Manx Native Trees’, a local nursery, which produces saplings grown from local seed.

The young trees are planted when they are about two years old and 60cm tall. They include such broadleaf species as alder, willow, hazel, wild cherries, oak and hawthorn.

The Isle of Man Woodland Trust is run by volunteers and new people are welcome to join their regular Sunday plantings.

More information can be found on the trust’s website woodlandtrust.im