A grant from Dorset Community Foundation’s Wessex Water Environment Fund has saved a school’s gardening club, as well as helping eight other green projects.
The fund, which supports projects that improve local biodiversity or have a positive impact on the environment in Dorset communities, has awarded more than £16,000 to fund a range of initiatives including rainwater harvesting and composting systems, nappy banks, litter picking and coastal conservation activities.
A £2,000 grant to West Moors global learning and education charity DEED will enable it to continue a weekly after-school gardening club at Wimborne First School. The club helps more than 20 Year 3 and 4 pupils and their families prepare the ground and sow seeds to grow food and plants for pollinators to increase biodiversity.
Sustainability Lead Sarah Wise said the club had run out of funding at the end of term. She said:
“I’m so delighted because what was going to be really difficult was to actually not carry any of this on.
“Now I can go back to the school and say we are able to carry on. I know the kids want it, I know that two staff members are happy to support it, so I’m really excited about that.”
She said the club has strengthened the pupils’ connection with the natural world and the food chain:
“One of the pupils wrote me a little note and said ‘thank you so much, this has been the best club ever, and I’ve learned some new skills, and another told me ‘I’ve really enjoyed this, I’ve learnt so much and tried new foods’, some of the children had never eaten carrots or didn’t even know what a mangetout looked like.
“One of the nicest things has been watching the children exploring a part of the school grounds they’d never been to and seeing them connect with it.”
The grant will also fund guttering, water butts, drought-resistant plants and watering cans for the school to increase water conservation and retention.
A £1,400 grant to Dorchester family store Loving By Nature CIC will help run and promote the Dorset Cloth Nappy Library, which provides parents with sustainable nappies. Owner Charlotte Loving said the library, which last year provided 45 starter kits to families, aims to cut down on landfill waste.
She said:
“It currently costs Dorset Council around £400,000 a year to send all used disposable nappies for Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT), along with household rubbish. If we could reduce that figure by even one per cent, we will be making a significant impact on the waste produced in the county.”
Nigerian Community in Dorset, which is based in Bournemouth, will use a £2,000 grant to deliver environmental education workshops and community litter picking activities to promote recycling, water conservation, sustainable living and community participation in protecting green spaces across the county.
Project leader Azukaego Umeononigwe said many of the group’s members are unfamiliar with recycling practices. He said:
“This project aims to improve environmental sustainability through education, behaviour change and direct environmental action.”
A £2,000 grant will help the Sail Training Trust on Portland run a sustainability and marine ecology programme, delivered by its instructors in partnership with the Andrew Simpson Foundation and Surfers Against Sewage, for young people, combining environmental education, water testing, biodiversity surveys and hands-on coastal conservation activities through sailing and water sports.
Fundraising officer Jacqui Greenhaf said:
“The programme will give 20 young people the chance to take part in water testing, biodiversity surveys, marine pollution investigations and coastal conservation education.
“The young people will gain practical understanding of local environmental issues affecting waterways and marine ecosystems within Portland.”
The Wessex Water Environment Fund is part of the YTL UK Foundation, which has provided at least £500,000 of funding every year since 2021 to support communities, environmental projects and charities helping those who are suffering the consequences of poverty through low income or unemployment.
Find out more about the work of Dorset Community Foundation at: dorsetcommunityfoundation.org.
