WHAT are Rangers?

Simply, they are the custodians of our parks and gardens.

On a deeper level, their love of nature is in their blood; their love of birds and wildlife is in their DNA.

They are experienced, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

They are compassionate.

They are as equally adept at handling and caring for sick and injured wildlife as they are in subtly caring for us: keeping St Helens park-goers and our children safe in the town’s green spaces.

Their unique skills should be felt down the generations: when children understand and care for their environment and wildlife, they will understand and care for others, as happy human beings.

Yet in urban St Helens, these valuable employees had been reduced in number to just three over the years.

Only three Rangers served the whole of the town’s parks and gardens.

Any small financial saving garnered from any further cuts to this department would be difficult to reconcile with the vast expenditures seen elsewhere across the town – such as the eye-watering salaries of high office, the gold-plated pensions of the same and the millions spent on apparent vanity projects that defy common sense.

And as we see our parks and gardens deteriorate and in my opinion become unsafe, we should remember why and how this has happened. In this, it is difficult to imagine that the council acts in our interest.

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