Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust was delighted to have the wonderful opportunity to connect some amazing fundraisers with their local reserve – Wilwell Farm Cutting. As a thank you for generously raising £584 towards our Ancient Woodland Appeal, Volunteer Warden Gordon Dyne took the 2nd Lady Bay Brownies and their leaders on a guided tour of the reserve.

The Trust’s fundraising champions come in all sorts of forms – challenge event enthusiasts who fundraise through their passion for running, walking or cycling to Open Garden hosts where a village or community group come together to fundraise for a shared cause. We see an array of fundraising initiatives to raise much needed funds for our work. However, the 2nd Lady Bay Brownies’ fund-raising activity was definitely one of the more novel fundraisers seen in a long time.

The Trusts recent Ancient Woodland Appeal launched in March 2022, hoping to raise £25,000 to support the work across these diverse and much needed habitats. As part of the appeal the Brownies donated the proceeds from a ’Pre-loved clothing sale’ held the December prior – when asked why they chose Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust they said ‘we wanted the money to go towards a local cause that was doing something positive for the environment, and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust seemed the obvious choice’.

Sienna Carver, Supporter Care Officer from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust said, ‘The Pre-loved clothing sale was such a fantastic fundraising option – it joined our ethos of sustainable environmentally conscious ways of living with raising funds. What wasn’t to applaud?’.

The Brownies were keen to explore their local reserve, and resident Volunteer Warden Gordon Dyne was happy to impart his passion for the site to the young people, which was combined with the presentation of a certificate for fundraising. 

Reflecting on the walk and event, Gordon Dyne shared his experience of connecting these intrepid fundraisers with this little-known reserve. “It was really great to meet a group of young people taking an interest in their natural environment. And I hope they will all take that interest forward into their futures and continue to speak up for our environment in all its many forms and that we will see some returning as adults to continue the work of nature conservation at Wilwell and other reserves."