VOLUNTEERS and organisers from across the Thornbury area came together last week for the annual general meeting of the Thornbury Volunteer Centre.

The meeting on Wednesday, July 18 took place in the gardens of Christ the King Church, and with such a beautiful, sunny afternoon, volunteers and guests were able to take advantage of the lovely surroundings.

During the meeting, guest speaker Jerry Dicker gave a very interesting, interactive and entertaining talk about his volunteering at Filnore Woods, bringing along a very large sapling to demonstrate on it many of the tools they use to maintain the woods.

Once the official AGM business was complete the Volunteer Centre hosted a summer networking afternoon tea for the volunteers of Thornbury and District to say thank-you for their hard work and commitment over the previous year.

The event also gave them the opportunity to meet and network with other volunteers and share experiences.

Guests enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea of scones, strawberries and cream and cakes with music performed throughout the afternoon by the Wriggle Jigglers, a folk band made up of young people from the area.

This celebration event is part of a series of events to celebrate Thornbury Volunteer Centre’s 30th anniversary year and has been made possible funding from Tesco Bags of Help.

Kim Webb, development co-ordinator at Thornbury Volunteer Centre, said "It is always nice to be able to recognise the valuable contribution volunteers make to their local community and we must thank Tesco Bags of Help for the funding which allowed us to host this event.

“We had 60 guests representing 18 voluntary and community organisations were treated to an afternoon of tea, talks and music and hopefully left feeling that the work they do really matters."