News in brief - Timely tales from around Wyre

Family Sculpture Day at Wyre park 

Wyre Council is holding a Family Sculpture Day at Wyre Estuary Country Park in Thornton on Sunday 7 October, 11am-3pm. 

Make your very own sculptures from coppiced wood and natural materials, with professional sculptors on hand to help you bring your ideas to life. For inspiration, the theme for the day is autumn wildlife. 

There'll also be opportunities to try sculpting with willow and to create bird and bat boxes to take home. 

The event is free to attend with small charges for some activities. 

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Visit Garstang tourism win

Visit Garstang has won Visitor Information Provider of the Year award for the second year running at the Lancashire Tourism Awards.

The centre was awarded the accolade at an awards ceremony held at the Guild Hall, Preston, hosted by Wayne Hemingway MBE. Visit Garstang faced competition from larger venues in Blackburn, Lancaster and Morecambe, and will now be entered into the national Visit England Awards for Excellence 2013.

Visit Garstang was praised by Marketing Lancashire for helping to revitalise the town centre and providing an invaluable resource for visitors. Judges also commented on the extensive knowledge of the area and great attention to detail demonstrated by centre staff.

Pictured receiving the award: (L-R) Wayne Hemingway MBE; Ian Munro, Head of Culture, Leisure and Tourism at Wyre Council; Councillor Lynne Bowen, Cabinet member with responsibility for tourism at Wyre Council; Alexandra Holt, Tourism Development Officer at Wyre Council; award sponsor Mike Davies from Northern Print Distribution.

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Become a friend of Marsh Mill

A public meeting is being held at Marsh Mill in Thornton on Monday 24 September at 7pm in order to form a Friends of the Mill group.

The aims of the group will be to attract more visitors to the mill, especially school children, raise the profile of the mill and promote it as prominent tourist attraction.

Anyone wishing to find out more is welcome to attend. Just turn up at the mill, Fleetwood Road North, Thornton.

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Wyre Markets Manager among the country's elite

Wyre Council's Markets Manger, Julian Brent, has been named runner-up in the National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA) awards.

Julian took the honour in the Market Officer of the Year category in recognition of the work he has done in establishing Poulton's successful weekly street market while continuing to maintain strong occupancy rates at Fleetwood Market, Wyre's hugely popular traditional market.

For more information about Wyre's markets visit wyre.gov.uk/markets.