The support of players of People’s Postcode Lottery is enabling Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust to reach out to local communities and to trial activities and events that we might otherwise not be able to deliver. Something we are very passionate about is enabling young people, particularly those between the ages of 13 and 25 to play an active role in our work. One way we are achieving this is by supporting members of our Keeping it Wild youth group to help us deliver engaging activities for families at our events.

At the Spring Fair at our Idle Valley Nature Reserve the young people planned, co-ordinated and delivered a range of activities including a make-and-take nest box building session and a range of fun and interactive wildlife themed games.

Another aspect of our work that People's Postcode Lottery is helping us to develop and explore is practical conservation activities for families. We have a long history of providing opportunities for adults to get involved in practical habitat conservation but there have always been barriers to engaging families, especially those with young children. At the Spring Fair we organised a special wild flower planting session in a newly created wetland area and a number of families – as well as the Keeping it Wild team, got their hands dirty. We hope that these families will now return to see how the habitat they helped to shape develops over the years to come. The support of the players makes it possible for us to experiment and deliver new approaches and activities with new audiences.

As well as helping the Trust to better relate to other young people and families at our events the group members are also able to work alongside our staff team and other volunteers to gain practical experience of delivering events.