Froglife are delighted to announce they have bagged £10,000 from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.
The supermarket teamed up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help initiative, which saw grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to environmental and greenspace projects.
Eight million shoppers voted in stores up and down the country. And it can now be revealed Froglife has been awarded £10,000.
The results have been announced and Froglife will now begin work on bringing their project to life.
Froglife have recently taken over management of Boardwalks Nature Reserve in Peterborough, a fantastic place for their favourite species, and have already started some improvements through their River Nene Dragon Finder project. You may have seen new ponds being created and some trees removed to stop leaf litter silting up existing ponds. But you may also have noticed vandalised information boards and the lack of seats. You may not have even known you were on a reserve with such interesting wildlife. Tesco’s Bags of Help funding will help Froglife to provide homes for all kinds of wildlife here, and make it accessible and fun for families. Froglife will now be able to demonstrate that the area is being looked after, which will reduce antisocial behaviour.
Over the next 6 months you will see new signs, beautifully carved benches, a pond dipping platform and more bat and bird boxes. In the autumn Froglife will do further habitat work to improve the ponds for amphibians.
Froglife will be delivering some of the work through their projects with vulnerable and disadvantaged young people in Peterborough. They will learn new skills, gain confidence, and improve their social skills whilst they contribute in a positive way to our community.
“We are so pleased we have some money to improve this site. I can’t wait to get young people down there and start using their ideas.” Said Rebecca Neal, Froglife’s Conservation Youth Worker on the Green Pathways project.
Caroline Silke, Head of Community at Tesco, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success.
“We have been overwhelmed by the response of our customers and the feedback has been brilliant.
“We can’t wait to see the money being put to use bringing these projects to life.
“Nominations for the next round of the initiative will open in April and we look forward to helping a further round of groups and projects bag their share of the bag charge fund.”
Voting ran in store from 27 February until 6 March – with customers choosing which group they’d like to get the top award using a token given to them at the check-out in store.
Tesco estimated that around eight million votes were cast in stores across the UK.
Groundwork’s national chief executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “We have been delighted to have been involved in the Bags of Help project.
“It has been wonderful to follow the projects through the application process to the final announcement.
“This is money which will go directly back into the communities up and down the country creating places to meet people, be active, play or simply relax. This initiative is really putting something back into the local environment, transforming greenspaces and helping the community at a grass-roots level.”
Nominations and applications for the next round of Bags of Help funding will open on April 18. As well as applying direct, suggestions for projects can also be nominated by people living locally.