Charity of the year—saving hedgerows

THE Canal & River Trust has been unveiled as ‘Charity of the Year' by People's Postcode Lottery, it was announced today, Friday.

The award was made at the People's Postcode Lottery's annual Charity Gala attended by 500 people at the historic National Museum of Scotland.

Awareness of hedgerows

The Award was given in recognition of the way the Trust, through support from players of People's Postcode Lottery, had raised public awareness and support for a project to help save the nation's historic hedgerows which, although so important for biodiversity, have declined by 50% since the Second World War.

In making the award, players of People's Postcode Lottery gave a special one-off £50,000 cheque to support the Trust's work. It also committed to increase the Trust's annual grant by 25% to £125,000.

Grateful for support

Richard Parry, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, was on hand to collect the cheque for £50,000, and commented:

"We are so grateful to players of People's Postcode Lottery for their support. This is the second year they have supported us and to be selected as Charity of the Year from amongst so many good causes is a tremendous accolade and a fantastic vote of confidence in the Canal & River Trust.

"I am delighted that the support from players of People's Postcode Lottery has increased; this special one-off award of £50,000 provides vital funding which will give a tremendous boost to our efforts in 2014. We have already identified three very special projects that it will support."

Three projects

• With a £20,000 appeal now fully funded, a ‘volunteer' canal workboat will be brought into action on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. The boat will be ‘skippered' by local people and will host local schools who will transform the Worcester & Birmingham Canal to create new wildlife habitats and tackle litter and graffiti along the waterway.
• A £27,000 target has now been met to raise money for volunteers and trainees at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port who are restoring Ferret, an historic working canal boat built in 1926. Supported by celebrity chef, television presenter and Hairy Biker, Dave Myers, Ferret will once again be operational allowing future generations to experience what life was like for the people who lived and worked on the canals and rivers.
• Funding will also support the Trust's conservation efforts across Birmingham and the Black Country, working with the National Sealife Centre, to help protect and encourage both water voles and otters living in these urban waterways to flourish.