01/11/2026
The National Marine Biological Library (NMBL), housed in the Marine Biological Association’s historic Laboratory building on Citadel Hill, Plymouth, recently celebrated the outstanding contribution of two of the charity’s most dedicated volunteers who have given 10 years of their time and skills to supporting the NMBL.
The Library has been supported by volunteers for at least a decade and local couple Bernie and Kathy Clare, who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last month, have been there from the start. They first started volunteering after finding out about the Library at a Marine Biological Association (MBA) open day in 2016.
“We read the information boards outside the building, which told the story of the MBA, and we were very interested to find out more about the charity,” says Bernie. “The Open day featured various different departments and the work that they were involved in, for example the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey lab; we were blown away by the scale of the operation and how it works.”
Bernie and Kathy were then shown around the Library, an experience that would change their lives for at least the next 10 years.
Read the full story on our website - https://www.mba.ac.uk/plymouths-national-marine-biological-library-thanks-two-very-special-volunteers-for-10-years-of-service/
