Bolton Council is installing secure storage at 10 locations across the area in a showing of support for its volunteers.

It installed one of the Volunteer Vaults at Leverhulme Park this week with the rest of them due in the coming weeks.

The 10 locations across the area were in need of secure storage to support the volunteers who work to tidy them up with litter-picking and a range of other activities.

Gareth Pike, Volunteer Coordinator for Love Bolton, Hate Litter, is behind the Volunteer Vaults which are supported by a sum from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

(Image: Paul Heyes)

Mr Pike said: "Bolton is incredibly lucky to be blessed with so many enthusiastic volunteers and it is a pleasure for me to work with them. The fact that they are prepared to give up some of their spare time for the benefit of everyone shows how committed they are to their neighbourhoods and communities. 

"We wanted to make things a bit easier for them by making sure they have the equipment they need readily to hand."

ALSO READ: Praise after reopening of Rock Garden at Moss Bank Park.

Volunteer Vaults are steel-clad, sealed and secured to paths to protect them and the tools inside them from vandals.

There are more than 1,000 volunteers in the area who picked more than 15,500 bags of litter in the last 10 months or so according to Bolton Council.

(Image: Paul Heyes)

Richard Silvester, Bolton Council's cabinet member for climate change and the environment, said: "Volunteer Vaults are an excellent idea and I fully support anything we can do to help our fantastic volunteers.

"It is now well established that tidy neighbourhoods and local green spaces do much to improve our wellbeing and quality of life, and the council will continue to wholeheartedly support our volunteers who do such a valuable job."

Here are the 10 locations:

Bromley Cross Library 
Eatock Lodge Local Nature Reserve
Hulton Lane Playing Fields
Kearsley Park
Leverhulme Park
Longsight Park
Moss Bank Park
Old Station Park
Queens Park
Seven Acres Local Nature Reserve

This article was written by Jack Tooth. To contact him, email jack.tooth@newsquest.co.uk or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.