Whether it’s Happy Leaping Frogs or Hearing Laughing Friends – our natural world is precious.
But you know that.
And without Heaps of Lovely Funds so much of what we and others can do to safeguard and cherish the natural world would be so much harder.
Can you tell where this is going yet?
Yes it’s the Heritage Lottery Fund – the HLF has been a vital friend to the natural world, it’s contribution has been hugely significant.
Referring to ‘it’ as the HLF (as we all do) runs the risk of missing the crucial point that ‘it’ is made up of people taking decisions about what is important to all of us.
And they are asking what we think – it’s an important question as the HLF will award £300m in 2013. So your views on where the investments should be made in the future are crucial. They are important for us humans – but vital for the natural world. Wildlife is notoriously unable to contribute to consultation exercises – so that’s where you could come in, you can step up and give nature a voice.
You can read more here and you will see the link to the consultation page – please have a look.
And if you want to have a quick reminder of just some of the fantastic special places that the HLF has helped us nurture, here’s some links; Beckingham Marshes in Nottinghamshire, Dungeness in Kent (and here’s a link to a blog post I wrote about what people value at Dungeness), South Yorkshire’s Old Moor, The Lee Valley’s Wild Place Your Space project, Northern Ireland’s Rathlin Island, Saltholme, Ynys Hir in the west of Wales, The Flow Country in the north of Scotland and Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk.
What a list. We are so grateful to the support we have had from the HLF – but we all know the future is going to pose more and bigger challenges, the role the HLF can play in the years to come is crucial. So go on, let’s Help Life Flourish.
Follow me on twitter