Staff mark Dame Anita's birthday

Dame Anita Roddick died of a brain haemorrhage aged 64

Dozens of people have helped restore a 750m (2,461ft) hedge in West Sussex to mark the birthday of the late Dame Anita Roddick.

Staff from The Body Shop's HQ in Littlehampton took part in the work at the National Trust's Slindon estate, near Arundel, and in other projects.

Dame Anita, who set up the first Body Shop in Brighton in 1976, would have been 66 on Thursday.

She died after suffering a brain haemorrhage on 10 September 2007.

'Dirty work'

Prior to the work being carried out, National Trust warden Katie Archer said: "We are really looking forward to working with the guys from The Body Shop - apparently they are keen to get stuck into some good honest, hard and dirty work, which is great.

"We are grateful for their support too as hopefully the extra bodies will allow us to get this job done in a fraction of the time it would normally take us on our own."

Dame Anita became one of Britain's most successful businesswomen and was the first to introduce socially and environmentally-responsible business on to the High Street.

She was taken to hospital in Chichester on 9 September 2007 after she collapsed complaining of a headache.

Seven months earlier she announced she had contracted Hepatitis C from a blood transfusion in 1971.