After a week’s break, Laura is back and this week it looks like the RSPB have some celebrating to do, after all it’s only their 131st birthday!
131 years’ worth of giving nature a home, now that’s an achievement surely worth celebrating. On the 13th November 1889, Emily Williamson founded the Society for the Protection of Birds from her home in Manchester. Along with four other extraordinary women, Emily worked hard to fight nature’s corner during a time where exploitation of birds and other wildlife was prevalent.
Sound familiar? Just like the Climate Strikes of last year or the current RSPBs Revive Our World campaign, incredible individuals were advocating for change even as far back as over 100 years ago. Back in the late 19th century, it was popular to use bird feathers as decoration on hats and other fashion items. Birds, in their thousands, would have been killed for this market. Emily and the others set out to advocate against this, and so, the RSPB was formed and flourished.
You can read more detail about the history of the RSPB here and learn more about these five incredible women here.
EMILY WILLIAMSON (1855 – 1936). Founder, Society for the Protection of Birds (1889)
To pick out just one of the RSPBs initial achievements is hard, but I have loved reading about the origins of the, now well known, RSPB Christmas cards. In 1898, the RSPB was the first charity in the UK to sell Christmas cards, this stroke of genius paved the way for the charity Christmas card market we see today. What a great, light-hearted way to promote the RSPB and bring in donations at the same time! They say the best time for sending off Christmas cards in the post is in the first week of December, so why not get ahead and browse through this year’s selection, here.
If we ever needed inspiration to continue the fight to give nature a home, the early years of the RSPB is a great place to elicit motivation and be encouraged by nature activists of the past. If you would like to follow in the footsteps of Emily Williamson and the other early RSPB members, please join the Revive Our World campaign. You can do this here.
To keep up-to-date with all of the latest Strumpshaw Fen news, visit:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RSPBStrumpshaw
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RSPB_Strumpshaw
Website: https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/strumpshaw-fen/