SOMERSET Wildlife Trust’s new offices will be officially opened on Wednesday.

The offices at 34 Wellington Road, Taunton, formerly used by the Barnardo’s children charity, was bought with money left to the trust by founder-member Dr Chris Smith and will be opened by
Taunton Deane Mayor Dave Durdan.

It enabled the trust to move from Tonedale, near Wellington, and donations and voluntary work valued at £20,000 helped fund the refurbishment work.

Somerset Wildlife Trust chief executive Simon Nash said: “The move comes as the charity celebrates 50 years of nature conservation in Somerset this year.

“We look forward to being part of the community and are delighted that we’ll be contributing to the positive development of the town through our Routes to the River Tone project.”

Among events to mark the 50th anniversary is a talk by patron Simon King, the TV natural history presenter, on how he transformed ten acres of pasture land at his home into a wildlife ‘Eden’.

Tickets at £10 for the talk at Queen’s College, Taunton, at 7.30pm on Saturday, November 22, are available at www.somersetwildlife.org/AGM2014