Community celebration time at Park View 4U, Lytham

The event held at the Quirky Tea Rooms at the site also highlighted their achievements, as the park and volunteers have recently been awarded the RHS Britain In Bloom North West Community Trophy, which recognises the effort put in by volunteers to support their local community.

Julie Norman, park ranger at Park View 4U, said: "We are overwhelmed by the award and thrilled that our volunteers have been commended for their achievements.

"As a small charity we rely on them to help us deliver everything we do, from those who volunteer with groups, such as the Park View runners and our yarn social Seriously Hooked Up group, to our trustees and those who help us to continue to maintain the site.

"Over the last couple of years open green spaces have become more important than ever as a safe place to socialise outdoors, exercise and for our mental wellbeing.

"Each of our volunteers help us to provide these activities and keep our community healthy and happy.

"We wanted to bring them all together so that they could meet each other, learn about all the different groups that use the park and thank them for their time and dedication.

"We were successful in gaining some funding from Progress Housing’s Soup Dragon fund to hold the celebration event and to invite new volunteers to join us.”

The celebration took the form of an afternoon tea served by Christmas elves with thank you cakes, locally hand-made crackers and gifts, music played by volunteers from Park View 4U’s weekly guitar club and a slideshow of all the volunteering events that took place this year.

Members of three local volunteering organisations who have supported the charity this year were also invited to see the difference their support has made.

They were The Speak up for Women charity for funding the Community Education Team, The Windmill Community Benefit Society who unveiled two plaques on the day for funding essential park improvements and Lytham Round Table who funded and built two raised beds in the kitchen garden.

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