THE Lake District National Park authority has praised the contributions of the hundreds of volunteers that work for the park's upkeep every year.

A report on the work of the volunteers over 2017 stated that the help of around 450 regulars has seen more than 8,000 duties carried out over more than 41,000 volunteer hours.

These duties included looking after specialist qualities of the park, gardening, delivering walks and navigation, supporting other teams and working for the archaeology network.

The report also found that for every £1 invested in a volunteers recruitment, training and expenses, they gave the equivalent of £4.30 back in terms of the amount of work they did.

Beth Kennedy, volunteer team leader, said: "The involvement of volunteers in the design, planning and coordination of projects in addition to the more practical elements of many roles, demonstrates the incredible skill, experience and knowledge that volunteers bring to the organisation, strengthening our impact even more.

"In 2017 we have welcomed a phenomenal 82 new volunteers to information centres; fix the fells; the lakes ranger crew; the

guided walks, bike rides and navigation activities programme; park management; archaeology network; Rusland Horizons and Lakes Alive – demonstrating just how many opportunities there are and just how much enthusiasm there is for volunteering with the National Park year after year."

The Fix the Fells programme also celebrated its 10th birthday in 2017.

In 2007, the Fix the Fells Lengthsman scheme was established to give much needed help to the path teams in looking after deteriorating routes, as well as the opportunity for people to have the chance to look after the fells as volunteers.

10 years down the line more than 80 volunteers regularly walk an extensive network of paths and in 2016, more than 463 drain runs were completed.

Marking this achievement, the LDNPA's annual Brian Stilling Award was awarded to dedicated Fix the Fells volunteer Barry Capp.

Mr Capp, of Ulverston, was commended for having completed at least one mission to repair deteriorating Lake District paths over the past nine years, notching up 2,000km of work over 1000 days.