We’re delighted to be able to announce that a Herefordshire Wildlife Trust project to create a dipping pond at Bodenham has been selected as one of those which will receive a grant award of up to £12,000 from Tesco’s Bags of Help initiative. Please help us to maximise the amount of the grant we’ll be given by voting for the project.
How you can help
When shopping in Tesco stores in Hereford, customers will be given the opportunity to vote for their favourite project.
Voting in Tesco stores on who should receive the £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 grant awards from run from 31 October to 13 November. Our project can be voted for Tesco stores of all sizes in Hereford so, when doing your shopping, please also remember to vote for the Family Pond Dipping Project at Bodenham Lake, to help us to hopefully achieve our goal of obtaining the £12,000 award. It’s all in your hands!
About the award
Tesco has teamed up with Groundwork on its Bags of Help initiative in hundreds of regions across England and Wales. The scheme will see three community groups and projects in each of these regions awarded grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the 5p bag charge.
Bags of Help offers community groups and projects in each of Tesco’s 416 regions across the UK a share of revenue generated from the 5p charge levied on single-use carrier bags. The public will now vote in store from 31 October to 13 November on who should receive the £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 awards. In total, there is over £12.5 million up for grabs.
Our project
A dipping pond was requested by the Queenswood and Bodenham Lake users who attended public consultation events held in a number of local community halls in the area and in nearby market towns. Further community consultation using online questionnaires and through questionnaires at events has confirmed that this is a popular idea much wanted by the community.
Currently, the steep sides and depth of Bodenham Lake prevent children from being able to explore it. The minimum grant of £8,000 will enable us to create a new pond with a dipping platform which will allow children to dip their nets and identify a whole range of mini-beasts in the pond (from tadpoles to water scorpions!) in a safe manner. It will encourage families to spend quality time together, to learn about the local wildlife and to spend time outdoors together improving their health and wellbeing.
Once the pond has been created, we’ll be able to organise outdoor fun and learning activities for everyone! The pond will be designed to be used by families, schools, community groups and will have full wheelchair access for people with disabilities.
Funds from Bags of Help will enable local people not only to visit the pond, but also to access it in a safe manner, with the support of staff. Staff working for the Wildlife Trust have a specialist knowledge and passion for local wildlife which they are keen to share.
The pond will create new, high quality habitats attracting a wide range of wildlife for the public to enjoy, including newts, dragonflies, bats and toads. The edges of the pond will be a perfect site for aquatic plants to grow, such as the beautiful yellow flag iris.
What could be additionally achieved with £10,000?
These additional funds would enable us to include a fence and two gates to surround the pond. This would make the pond area more visible to visitors and would promote safety. It would also enable staff leading school groups to ensure children stayed within the area making supervision easier. The fence would also discourage dogs from jumping in and disrupting the creatures that live there. The fence and gate would be made from locally sourced wood.
What more could be done with £12,000?
With a grant of £12,000, we would also be able to create “scrapes”, which are ribbons or pools of shallow water. Scrapes are very good environments for attracting wading birds (those that use their long legs to wade in shallow water and their long bills to search for invertebrates in mud), including lapwings and curlew, which are nationally threatened species, as well as invertebrates and aquatic plants.
