Earth Trust receives National Lottery support

We are delighted to share that Earth Trust has received £50,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. This award  recognises the important work we do to protect our local heritage. Within the 1,200 acres of farmland, including wetlands, river, research forest, woodland and community reserves, Earth Trust looks after scheduled ancient monuments, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. Our largest green space is the site of Roman, Iron and Bronze Age settlements, which we are bringing to life through our planned ‘Gateway’ programme in 2021.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and as we are now heading towards a second lockdown, we have lost significant income. Whilst we have kept our green spaces open, we had to put on hold all of our education programmes, events and volunteering work, working with a much reduced staffing capacity.

Jayne Manley, CEO of Earth Trust said: “We are enormously grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for their support at this crucial time. Nature-rich green spaces are a lifeline but are under significant strain. Thanks to those that play the lottery we will be able to plan the recovery of green spaces and Earth Trust. Green and blue spaces will continue their vital role in economic and community regeneration and, importantly, people’s resilience in difficult times.

The funding, made possible by National Lottery players, was awarded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund. £50million was made available to provide emergency funding for those most in need across the heritage sector. The UK-wide fund aimed to address both immediate emergency actions and help organisations to start thinking about recovery.

Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Heritage has an essential role to play in making communities better places to live, supporting economic regeneration and benefiting our personal wellbeing. All of these things are going to be even more important as we emerge from this current crisis. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we are pleased to be able to lend our support to organisations such as Earth Trust during this uncertain time.”