Keeping It Wild is the youth group of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust for 13 to 25 year-olds. We started in 2016 as Young Roots Steering Group and then we received Heritage Lottery Funding to officially become Keeping It Wild! That funding allowed us to take part in lots of conservation and educational activities and get branded clothing like our Toad Patrol high vis vests (pictured). Last summer we even went away for a week to visit other Wildlife Trusts and see new wildlife including beavers and horseshoe bats! Now the funding has finished, we do lots of fundraising events in order to be self-sufficient. We have sold handmade Christmas decorations at Maggie’s at the City Hospital and at Attenborough nature reserve, put on a nature trail at Idle Valley Spring Fair and we had a stall at Green Up Day in Sneinton Market Place (pictured).
We also put on events to connect people with nature – we hosted a bushcraft day in Seller’s Wood and a family games event at Woodthorpe Meadow. During Nottingham’s Night Light we put on a silent disco for the public where participants wore light up headphones that played nature sounds to show them what we are missing in the city. Our mission is to connect young people to nature through our activities and to raise awareness of the importance of Nottingham’s green spaces. This year, we were part of the Creating a Buzz campaign, which included creative workshops with local poets and photographers focusing on nature in Nottingham, and a debate in the Council House with a panel of experts and around 100 local school children (pictured). We are also planning on shout our manifesto to parliament in London!
In the future, we are going to be trusted to manage our own nature reserve! We will be looking after Woodthorpe Meadow in Sherwood and hosting more events there to encourage local people to visit the reserve. We are also looking to raise awareness of our group so we can recruit new members and increase our fundraising opportunities, and we are looking for our own space to meet!
Want to join us ? Contact us on Facebook via @willow fox or via Laura Bacon on lbacon@nottswt.co.uk or dropping a text or what’s app on 07711886414
We are the Future protecting Wildlife!