Members of a community-run conservation group have pledged to continue their efforts at a south Norfolk common after celebrating a restoration scheme.

The Friends of Boyland Common held a launch party at the weekend to mark the work that has been completed at the site in Shelfanger, near Diss.

Wild flowers have already begun to return to the green space after the group received �17,894 from the Big Lottery Fund's Community Spaces programme to reinstate the common's ditches and provide access.

A management plan has also been drawn up by Norfolk Wildlife Trust to ensure it does not deteriorate.

Helen Green, secretary of the friends group, added that they wanted to hold more public events on the common and make it a community space.

'Years ago, people used it to go for picnics, but has not been a very inviting place to go. We want it to be a community space for people to fly a kite or for an art group to have a session there. No one wants it to go backwards again,' she said.

The Friends of Boyland Common was formed two and a half years ago because there was concern about the state of the common which had gradually deteriorated over the last 20 years.

The Saffron Community Foundation Trust has also given a small grant which has been used to complete the log seating and for the aeration work to open up the compacted ground. The Waveney Valley Neighbourhood Fund has also contributed to the work for some foot bridges.