A TAMAR Valley AONB initiative to develop and support volunteers throughout the area has just celebrated its first year of operation.

Helping Hands for Heritage, launched in May 2014 after being awarded £93,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, has achieved a great deal in just 12 months, helping to build a thriving, skilled and knowledgeable volunteer task force in the Tamar Valley.

The project's annual report shows that more than 400 volunteers have attended events organised through Helping Hands for Heritage over the past 12 months, while a further 200 volunteers have joined in with specific training sessions, preparing them to survey the valley's heritage, landscape and wildlife independently.

Project officer Sam Barnes said: 'I am delighted with the response from the project so far. I have met so many enthusiastic people, willing to learn the skills involved in monitoring and protecting the heritage and wildlife in the Tamar Valley.

'With limited resources and time within the AONB team, we greatly appreciate the superb support offered by our growing band of volunteers.

'The number of hours' work from our volunteers throughout the past year equates to almost £19,000 worth of time.'

Volunteer Lesley Strong said: 'Not only have I gained knowledge and skills in many new areas, I have met a great range of people and have had the chance to explore new parts of the valley I probably wouldn't have discovered on my own.'

The project's steering group met at the Tamar Trails Centre, Gulworthy, late last month to discuss the first year's achievements and prioritise targets for the final year.

Ian Egerton, representing the Devon Biodiversity Records Centre, said: 'In our final year, we will be concentrating on providing wildlife volunteers with even greater skills, training them up and embarking on an exciting round of species and habitat surveys.

'I look forward to the next 12 months.'