Making schools a little more wild with help from Dobbies

Ulster Wildlife and Dobbies Lisburn have teamed up to help bring the ‘wild’ into local schools, as The Wildlife Trusts are voted Dobbies’ 150th anniversary national charity partner.
By The Newsroom
Published 17th Jul 2015, 08:00 BST

Dobbies’ fundraising target of £50,000 will help The Wildlife Trusts movement bring wildlife into school grounds up and down the UK - providing advice and activities, creating habitat for wildlife and places where children can explore, play and get close to nature- from bees and butterflies to frogs and flowers.

Throughout the summer, Dobbies will be raising funds through a variety of ways, from its digital charity box ‘Pennies’, which allows customers to round up their payments to the nearest pound, to their annual ladies garden party which was held in June.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Wildlife gardening activity booklets are also available at Dobbies to help families make wildlife part of their gardens - no matter how big or small their outdoor space - with a suggested donation of £1. The My Wild Garden activity booklet offers tips and tricks to make our gardens into wildlife havens, including species to look out for and monthly activities to undertake – from setting up nectar cafés to planting night-scented plants and more.

Aimee White, Charity Champion at Dobbies Lisburn, said: “We are thrilled to team up with a charity which celebrates our values – getting people outside enjoying their gardens. Ulster Wildlife is a great cause and if we can support them to educate children about nature in fun and exciting ways and encourage families to be wildlife-friendly, as a company we’d be very proud.”

Vickie Chambers, Donor Development Coordinator with Ulster Wildlife said: “We are delighted our national partnership with Dobbies will help to encourage schools and people to embrace wildlife-friendly gardening and provide a little space for nature on their doorstep.

For many of us, the sound of bees buzzing amongst the flowers, smelling daisies or following snail trails are amongst our first impressions of nature. And, more often than not, it’s from within our own backyard that these memories are created and our love of nature begins. Wildlife gardening can be a great way to bring colour and life into a garden – we encourage everyone to give it a go.”

To find out more about Ulster Wildlife and its work to secure space for nature in Northern Ireland, visit www.ulsterwildlife.org