Young conservation volunteers from all over Staffordshire crossed the border to Wales to plant trees and experience the great outdoors in Snowdonia.

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust’s Youth Rangers, who come from areas including Stafford, Cannock, Rugeley and Lichfield, spent a weekend in the national park to help the Snowdonia Society and also took part in activities such as climbing, canoeing and raft building.

The residential course, was organised to thank the 16 to 25-year-old volunteers for all the help they have given to the trust in carrying out vital conservation work across the county.

Funding was provided by Staffordshire Youth Service, through the Youth Opportunities Fund. Youth projects officer Shaun Rimmer said: “We wanted to express our appreciation to the Youth Rangers, so we organised this weekend away for them.

“The group gets on very well and it was a good opportunity to socialise as well as doing some conservation work in a beautiful setting.”

James Morris, aged 16, from Milford, Stafford, said: “The weekend was a really good laugh.

“On the Saturday we went onto a nature reserve and did some native tree planting, and on the Sunday we had a go on a climbing wall, did some canoeing and built rafts and tried them out. They were quite successful, but everyone still got very wet.”

James is studying countryside management at Rodbaston College and joined the Youth Rangers about nine months ago.

The trust runs a number of different Youth Rangers groups around the county, and members carry out conservation tasks on local reserves such as making footpaths and clearing scrub.

The Viva Veolia Youth Ranger project is funded by the Veolia Environmental Trust, match funded by V, the youth volunteering charity, and JMP consulting.

To find out more about Youth Rangers contact Shaun Rimmer on 01889 880100 or e-mail to: s.rimmer@staffs-wildlife. org.uk