Cornwall is home to some of our most attractive areas of coastline and is one of the least developed counties in the UK. It’s no surprise that most of this coastline is protected for the diverse plant and animal wildlife that lives there. A recent grant of £1m worth of Big Lottery Funding for Cornwall has helped a group of young people learn skills to preserve the coastline and work towards protecting the county’s beaches. The Big Lottery Fund is a high-profile campaign that gives out money raised from lottery sales to good causes all over the country.
By Tom Chambers – originally posted to Flickr as Porthcurno Beach, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4090320
Big Lottery Funding for Cornwall – Our Bright Future
The Big Lottery Funding for Cornwall will go towards Cornwall Wildlife Trust and their “Your Shore” Beach Rangers developed in accordance with the Lottery “Our Bright Future” scheme. The Our Bright Future programme focuses on three key strategic areas for local communities: reversing low social cohesion, tackling areas of low opportunity for young people, and fighting for areas vulnerable to climate change. Some 30 projects across the country have received or will receive £1m for developing local projects and engaging young people.
Your Shore will train young people in areas as marine conservation and reducing food waste in Cornwall. Over the next five years, it is expected that the programme will have engaged with thousands of school children in the county’s schools and trained the next generation of environment and conservation enthusiasts, as well as engaging communities in the protection and promotion of the areas in which they live. It is hoped that the Trust will eventually recruit up to 180 regular Beach Rangers between the ages of 16 and 24 and that local interest will extend it beyond the initial 5 year programme.