The Land Trust secures funding for Go Wild Family Challenge sheets at Wellesley Woodlands

The Land Trust is delighted to announce that it has received a £2,500 grant from the Farnborough Airport Community Environmental Fund to design and create Go Wild Family Challenge sheets to help visitors to Wellesley Woodlands learn more about the ecology and nature of the site through a range of activities.

The main target audience for the Go Wild Family Challenge will be families with children under the age of 12, but the sheets will be designed to be accessible to all visitors.

Wellesley Woodlands is a 110 hectare green open space in Aldershot boasting diverse habitats, an abundance of wildlife and a network of eight trails to explore.

The Go Wild Family Challenge sheets, produced in association with Hayley Bush Design, will be created specifically for four of the trails and available to download from the Wellesley Woodlands and Land Trust websites.

The sheets will include information about the environment, nature and local history and a number of tasks and challenges to be completed and form part of a wider strategy at Wellesley Woodlands to encourage young people to get outdoors, with evidence gathered by the National Trust suggesting that fewer than one in 10 children regularly play in wild places and a third have never climbed a tree.

An example of one of the challenges is the ‘Plane Trail’. Participants will be required to follow a 1.5 kilometre route which will take them around the woodlands and eventually lead them to the famous Wellington Statue. Once there they will be tasked with identifying which direction the Duke is pointing using a compass.

Land Trust Projects Officer, Ed Knowles, said:

“Encouraging families and young people to learn about the nature and ecology of Wellesley Woodlands will help build their understanding of the importance of our woodlands.

“Combining this new resource with Wellesley’s Brass Rubbings Nature & Heritage Trail and the soon to launch Education Packs, will ensure we have a range of things on offer to encourage young people to get outdoors in the woodlands and enjoy all the physical and mental health benefits that spending time in well managed green space can bring.”

‘Go Wild in Wellesley’ will be launched in October half-term with free family events and a chance to try all the challenges.

The airport fund that made the project possible is open to groups based within three miles of Farnborough Airport and grants can be given to community or environment based projects, which improve green or open spaces, natural habitats or activities with an emphasis on outdoor education.

More information about the airport fund and other grants administered by Rushmoor Borough Council is available on the council’s website, www.rushmoor.gov.uk/grants

The sheets will also be available to download on www.wellesleywoodlands.co.uk