Downs to the Sea is a project led by the South Downs National Park Authority and South Downs Trust to bring together environmental organisations, farmers and communities to create and restore priority wetland habitats in the National Park and beyond.
As one of 6 key partners we have jointly drawn up a bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Big thanks to SDNPA and SDT for organising the partnership and putting in a huge amount of work to pull the bid together!
We’ll hear the outcome in September, and should it be successful we will be employing an officer to work with Parish Councils on river focused projects, as well as an Education Officer who will be able to run sessions with schools to help connect children with the watery habitats on their doorstep.
We recently welcomed Fittleworth Primary to the Rother as part of our development work. James Russell, teacher at Fittleworth school, explained how valuable this type of outdoor learning is:
“Having the opportunity to venture out onto the Rother, walk the banks and investigate our local wildlife is tied inexorably to our schools values and the National Curriculum.
We are so lucky to be surrounded by such a beautiful landscape and ensuring that this is appreciated, maintained and preserved by future generations is a task of critical importance. The children were able to think about the role of water in the landscape and the role that it plays in their lives.
Now, more than ever, do we need children to engage with environmental issues and I would welcome the chance to take more children to experience this in the future. The staff that led the day were extremely knowledgeable and captured the children's attention, along with patiently answering any questions that they had. Thank you for arranging such an educational experience!”
We are hopeful that the bid will be successful and we can do many more educational visits in future.
