A decade of Blog Preston has gone by and we couldn’t let the anniversary go without raising a glass to ten wonderful years, and doing a bit of fundraising for a worthy cause.

On Thursday 9 January we brought local businesses, politicians of all colours, contributors and friends – and the Twitter friends Preston Phonebox and Penwortham Pylon – together to help celebrate the special occasion.

Preston Market’s Orchard Bar kindly hosted the evening which saw a variety of people across the city intertwine with each other on a fairly cold but nonetheless dry evening.

Read more: Ten years of Blog Preston

The Foxton Centre was at the heart of the celebrations as the homeless charity, which does vital work helping the city’s homeless and disadvantaged, is also celebrating a milestone of 50 years.

Showing our support, we collected donations on the evening and totalled up £235.20 to help them continue their brilliant work. The fundraising continues online and you can donate here.

Scrumptious cupcakes were provided by The Cake Lady in Hutton which seemed spectacularly appropriate, iced in Blog Preston’s bright blue logo and the number 10.

It wasn’t long before the spotlight was on Blog Preston’s founder and editor Ed Walker as he said a few words about the achievement.

Reflecting on the site, he reminisced on its very first ‘Hello World’ post and how Prestonians feel they can turn to us in happy times, and sad times, to share their views and ask us to report things.

He said: “Why did it start? A bit of a New Year’s Resolution. A bit of trying to land a job in journalism. Well, 13,000 posts later and 182,000 readers with more than 800,000 views in December 2018 and it’s become something a bit more than that.

“Since 2009 I am proud to say we’ve established ourselves as a place that Prestonians feel they can turn to in happy times, and sad times, to share their, often robust, views and ask us to report things. We’ve helped countless charitable causes and people wanting to campaign or change things in the city.”

Ed touched upon a day that made a significant impact to the site, the Boxing Day floods in December 2015.

He continued: “I barely had chance to get dressed as the rain came down relentlessly, and while East Lancashire was hit harder, it felt as though Blog Preston became the go-to place to see what was happening with river levels and updates from emergency services in and around the city.

“We had more than 160,000 views on the site in 48-hours. Someone also put a bleeping fire alarm in a bin in Deepdale Road for good measure on the same day, triggering the bomb squad being called.”

Thank yous were delivered to all who have and continue to help make the site what it is – our reporters, photographers, contributors and of course our readers.

Ed said: “You read our stories, often help give us information which means we can report those stories, or you share our stories.

“We are nothing without our readers. So thank you.”

Many well-wishers have also been saying happy birthday on social media, including Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and 3manFactory

If you would like to help with our efforts to support The Foxton Centre, you can to donate here.

More pictures from the party