The day is a chance for YDMT to recognise and thank the businesses that support them, as well as an opportunity to catch everyone up on what the charity has been up to.

It was super interesting to find out about all the work the charity does that previously I had no idea about – one thing that took me by surprise was their ethnic minority and refugee outreach programme –there was a family from Ethiopia speaking at the event who’d been on outdoor courses as participants in the outreach programme, and spoke incredibly highly of the positive impact it had had on their quality of life. I’d never thought of there being potential in conservation for projects of that nature, so it was pretty eye-opening.

After the talks and lunch, there was an optional walk around the Bolton Abbey grounds. We saw a lot of Mandarin Ducks, and “The Force of Prayer”, a Wordsworth poem about the Strid, was given to us as we walked past that part of the river Wharfe.