VOLUNTEERS and staff at a Welshpool nature reserve were celebrating as a Green Flag flew proudly over the site for the first time.

Severn Farm Pond, one of Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust’s two sites in the town, bagged the Green Flag Award in 2017 from Keep Wales Tidy in recognition of its excellent facilities and commitment to delivering great quality green space.

Foundations put in for the new flag pole meant the group were finally able to fly their green flag above the entrance to the reserve off Severn Farm Industrial Estate this week, volunteers having dug out a 3ft deep hole and filing it with concrete.

The Green Flag Award scheme is judged by green space experts, who volunteer their time to visit applicant sites and assess them on strict criteria.

A group of volunteers, Friends of Severn Farm Pond, meet weekly to keep the reserve a ‘safe, accessible and inspiring green space’ for people and wildlife.

n Anyone who would like to volunteer with the group can contact Matt Clark at mattclark.vyrnwy@gmail.com, or come down to the weekly volunteer session at the Pond every Wednesday from 10am until 1pm.