Tuppence a Toad - the campaign

Tuppence a Toad

The Campaign Year

Froglife has had a really busy year raising awareness and funds to help save common toads Bufo bufo from the threats posed by roads. It’s hard to sum up all we’ve done and the things we have learnt on one page!

Toads on Roads started in the 1980s with support from the WWF, and Froglife has been coordinating the project ever since – gathering data, mapping crossing sites, providing information and support for the hard-working volunteer Toad Patrollers who go out every spring. Since the start-up support, Toads on Roads has received no direct funding, and we calculate it costs approximately £4,000 a year to keep the project going. We wanted to do more for the toads and the Patrollers, and so Tuppence a Toad was born.

Here’s a quick summary of the highlights:

Oct 2010	Tuppence a Toad launches with Tucking in the Toads - a bedtime-themed event hosted by Toad Ambassador Nathalie Cox to wish the toads a happy hibernation.
Nov	Jules’s Toad Dash - Toad Patroller Jules Howard and friends undertake eight sponsored runs, covering 100km between toad crossings in Northampton.
Dec	New items in our Frogalogue including toad greetings cards designed by Liliane Taylor, Lucy Benyon, Venus Griffiths, Oliver Kratz, Simon Russo, Jane McGarry and Geoff Jones, all contributing to the Tuppence a Toad pot.
Jan 2011	Mike Dilger chooses 'Widdy and Wigbert' as the names for our two toad characters. Newt Year Honours are awarded to a range of celebrities and volunteers who have particularly helped raised the profile of toads and support their conservation including Terry Jones, Stephen Fry, Peter Firmin and five hard-working Toad Patrollers.
Feb	The Big Swim – Froglife CEO Kathy Wormald and young volunteer Amy Hamlett undertake a 6km sponsored swim.	Toad migration: Toad Patrols help over 66,000 toads!
Mar	Toads Take Over National Science and Engineering Week – Our Green Pathways and Wildlife Ambassador projects take over the Guildhall in Peterborough city centre with a giant toad lollipop lady, toads crossing a giant road, and the Scales of Justice for people to weigh up the 20 tonnes of toads killed on roads every year.
Apr	An Evening at Toad Hall – our fun evening of entertainment with an auction run by Willie Thorne, plus special guests Mike Dilger and Nathalie Cox.
Jul	Froglife Big Saturday – in partnership with The Manchester Museum we run an aquatic wildlife day and talk to hundreds of new people about the threats facing toads.
Sep	The campaign ends with an evening of talks about amphibian conservation at London Zoo in partnership with the Zoological Society of London, chaired by Mike Dilger plus special guest Bagpuss co-creator Peter Firmin.

We also made sure that toads and their plight got coverage in local and national press, and we met with a number of different organisations to help support and develop Toads on Roads.

Thanks to all your help, the campaign finances look like this:

Campaign total raised: £13,500 (approx)

Campaign costs: £4,900 (approx, including An Evening at Toad Hall)
Annual funds needed for project: £4,000 (approx)
Funding to develop Toads on Roads and support Toad Patrollers: £4,600 (approx)

A big thank you to everyone who has helped us bring in so many tuppences!

More...
O Learn more about the campaign outcomes.
O How to apply to the Patrol Pot.
O Thanks to all our supporters who collected tuppences, donated auction items and undertook sponsored activities.
O Although our big year of talking toads has come to an end, it won’t be the end of the efforts to keep fundraising, learning and protecting toads in bigger and better ways. Find out how you can get invovled.