Less carbon, more wildlife with WWCE’s Community Fund By Jessica Thimbleby, Carbon Reduction Champion
Photo: Holbrook Primary School Garden
The WWCE Community Fund is volunteer-led and managed by representatives of both WWCE and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. It supports Wiltshire-based projects which seek to achieve one or more of the following objectives to: reduce carbon emissions, mitigate climate change, alleviate fuel poverty and conserve wildlife. Wiltshire Wildlife Trust also receives funding to administer the Community Fund grants and support sustainability within the Trust. So far, 27 fantastic projects have been awarded grants! Organisations including Wiltshire Scrapstore, Seeds 4 Success and Sustainable Warminster have all benefitted from funding. Chippenham Cycle Network received a grant to remove barriers that prevent people cycling in Chippenham, which will help to reduce travel related emissions, the biggest source of
carbon in Wiltshire. A grant was also awarded to Holbrook Primary School in Trowbridge to create an outdoor education space and wildlife garden; this is a wonderful example of a project that involves young people and benefits the wider community, another key consideration when awarding grants.
If you have a great project idea, the next deadline for applications is 29 January 2024, with further funding rounds in June and October. View guidance at: www.wiltshirewildlife.org/ community-fund. We’d also love to hear from you if you are a Wiltshire Wildlife Trust or WWCE member interested in joining the panel! Photo: Historic England and Wessex Archaeology
I
n the seven years since Wiltshire Wildlife Community Energy’s Community Fund was set up, over £70,000 has been awarded to local communities and voluntary groups who share its ambition of delivering less carbon and more wildlife for Wiltshire.
Project Rejuvenate: Connecting with nature and our ancestors By Sarah Tribe, Youth Education and Wellbeing Team Leader
O
n a sunny spring morning in April, a small group of excited and slightly apprehensive teenagers gathered at Langford Lakes. They were participants in Project Rejuvenate, an exciting new project funded by Heritage England and led by our Youth Education and Wellbeing Team in partnership with Wessex Archaeology, a local artist and St Joseph’s Catholic Secondary School in Salisbury. Over the course of the next 12 weeks, the 12 young people and pastoral care staff from the school spent time at both our Langford Lakes and Coombe Bissett Down
nature reserves, taking part in activities ranging from fire lighting and campfire cooking, to building fencing with willow and hazel; excavating archaeological test pits; and creating artwork using methods from pre-history, such as dyeing fabric with nettle leaves. The project objectives were to investigate the impact of using traditional bushcraft skills, nature and our heritage to improve young people’s health and wellbeing. It was deemed a great success with participants recording a positive change in 9 out of 10 wellbeing statements.
“As our settlement grew, we developed a stronger bond with each other; the young people began to refer to the site as ‘Our Place’. It became clear that this had become a safe and welcoming space where the young people felt confident to learn, communicate and take risks.” School staff member
Autumn/Winter 2023 Wiltshire Wildlife 15
