A COLOURFUL mural celebrating volunteers in the Forest has been unofficially unveiled.

The mural, the work of local artists Tom and Laurie Cousins, covers the one of the external walls at the Ow Bist community space in Cinderford.

It features a vast array of voluntary endeavour from food networks to river rescues, community choirs and campaigns.

Ow Bist is housed in the former Cinderford Health Centre and is run by the Forest Voluntary Action Forum (FVAF).

The unveiling of the mural was another milestone in FVAF’s 30th anniversary year and also rounded Volunteers Week.

Deb Cook, of FVAF, said: “It was done as a celebration of 30 years of FVAF and also of us having this building.

“We wanted to mark the occasion and 30 years of community action and volunteering in the Forest of Dean.

“What we tried to do was to feature as many different types of volunteering groups and community action as possible.

“Lots of the figures in the mural are real people who volunteer in the Forest of Dean.

“There are absolutely loads of references and we tried to cram in as many as possible.

“It’s nowhere near all of it but its a good, representative sample.

“There’s always something that people can volunteer for but we don’t know exactly how many voluntary community sector groups there are in the Forest of Dean.

“There will be lots of unconstituted groups that are not registered anywhere.

“That makes it difficult to come up with a definitive number but we think there are more than 800.

“That is from big charities to small grassroots organisations.

“There’s so much for people to get involved with and there’s always new stuff springing up.”

For more information about volunteering opportunities visit www.fvaf.org.uk