Tice's Meadow Wildlife Explorers

The Pitch

Problem statement

The future of our planet, and the human race, is dependent on engaging young people with nature and their local environment. In the area surrounding the nature reserve there is a lack of free nature based activities for children. There is also an undercurrent of ASB committed by young teenagers, including wildlife crimes. The adjacent Tice's Meadow housing estate ranks lowest on most of the tables for socio-economic deprivation published by Rushmoor Borough Council, and yet the residents have unrivalled access to an award-winning nature reserve on their doorstep. We want to enable local children to learn to cherish nature and their local environment.

Solution

We have launched a programme of 11 free nature based activities for children, over the summer holidays. The response has been overwhelming, with 2 additional dates already added, and all now fully booked. Funding would be spent on delivering the activities - purchasing art and craft materials, but also investing in items that would allow us to upscale our ambitions and offer further activities in autumn and winter. This would include a dedicated gazebo, fishing trolley to transport the materials around site, attendance badges, and more bug hunting kit. We expect the project to engage local children with nature and the environment, hopefully recruiting future volunteers in the process.

Why are we best placed to deliver?

The Tice's Meadow Bird Group have a proven track record for delivering innovative, cost-effective, and successful projects over the past 8 years. Our volunteers regualrly contribute circa £30,000 worth of volunteering hours each year. Our Children's Activities Leader is a qualified secondary school teacher, with an enhanced DBS certificate. The nature reserve has quickly become a community hub for nature engagement and community volunteering, with strong ties to many local youth groups, environmental organisations and councils. Amongst the many awards we have won is an International Quarry Life Award for our Biodiversity Trail, beating projects from 100 quarries worldwide.

Focus Areas

Delivery plan

Budget breakdown

Beneficiaries

60 people

Expected impact

We expect our project to enable local children to engage with nature and their local environment, whilst at the same time enjoying a programme of free nature based fun activities over the summer holidays, and beyond. Measurable targets will include: - Number of children attending. - New volunteers recruited. - Reduction in youth related ASB at the nature reserve. Funding will enable us to deliver the project, but also increase our reach - we aim to deliver activities during each school holiday throughout the year.

Track record

Quotes from parents attending our recent BioBlitz (during which our Children's Activities Leader delivered a number of nature based activities for children): "George loved the dragonfly walk - sorry he asked so many questions!" "Thank you all! Such a wonderful day! Ethan had the best time". "Brilliant afternoon out. Thank you!" "Thank you, we all had lots of fun. And the kids can’t wait to come back for the summer events". "The kids (and big kids!) had a brilliant time yesterday, thank you for organising and displaying such cool nature finds, we can't wait for a summer of exploring soon".

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