On Monday 9 December we welcomed our wonderful volunteers to Brockholes Nature Reserve to celebrate the monumental effort and commitment they give to the Trust throughout the year. We provided a beautiful Christmas dinner, and members of Trust staff became waiters and waitresses for the afternoon to say thank you for everything the volunteers do. It was a brilliant team effort.

It was wonderful to see so many of our marvellous volunteers getting into the festive spirit, and to see the reserve bathed in stunning winter sunshine after a run of rainy days. To top it off, the evening ended with a beautiful starling murmuration, so stunning, in fact, that it was shared by the BBC North West Facebook page!

This wonderful annual celebration takes place to thank our amazing volunteers for giving up their time to help protect wildlife and wild places across our region. Additionally, it was also a perfect opportunity to celebrate those Trustees who had come to the end of their eight-year term of office.

Our Trustees are volunteers who help to ensure proper governance of the Trust, and a fitting presentation was made to Anthony Hatton, Richard Thomas and Geoff Higginbottom to thank them for their outstanding contributions over the years.