Young environmentalists
By Rachel Shaw
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust
One of our most inspiring days of the year is the finals of the Lincolnshire Young Environmental Awards when groups of children tell us about what they are doing to make their local and the global environment better for all of us.
The Awards are organised by the Rotary Club of Lindum, Lincoln and the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, and are sponsored by FCC Environment.
They recognise and reward young people under the age of 13 who have shown outstanding dedication to environmental causes.
In recent awards the standard has been extremely high, with the children all demonstrating huge commitment, impressive achievements and exciting plans for the future.
Recent winners Hawthorn Tree School’s Grow with Nature Club for the enthusiasm and individual initiative of its members, and their success in involving the wider community.
The winning project began after a nursery moved location, leaving the school with a new outside area that was just mud and concrete. A competition was run to come up with a garden design and many of the students had a very similar vision - for wildlife-friendly and sensory spaces, and places for planting and growing, as well as outdoor learning and teamwork. The club was created to turn those ideas into reality.
"The children at Hawthorn Hill had been there from the very start," explained judge Linda Benson. “They have been making things happen, thinking and acting independently.”
One student submitted an application to a local garden centre, not mentioning it to anyone. The first school staff knew was when they were told they have been awarded a number of gardening resources.
Another pupil, George, then aged 11, spent a whole weekend contacting everyone he knew to ask if they had any unwanted equipment they might donate. The request snowballed and the club gratefully received everything from plant pots and tools to a rainwater butt.
Recycling and upcycling has been a big part of the project.
“I used wood from our old kitchen to build a bird table like a mini picnic bench for the birds that don’t use the high feeders,” George said. “And we’re growing herbs in an old tractor tyre.”
Hawthorn Tree teacher Nicola Ingamells, who had been helping to run the Grow with Nature Club since the beginning, was delighted to see the children receive the award. “I’m just really proud. It was the passion the children have for making their plans a reality that spurred me on to join in. We were still in the early days but everything they envisioned for the space, they could see taking shape, and to have that recognised was fantastic,” she said. “It showed them that they’re having an impact.”
The deadline for this year’s awards is Sunday, March 23 to enter visit https://www.lincstrust.org.uk/lincs-environmental-awards/enter