Gwent Wildlife Trust bags £5000 from carrier bag charge fund!

Tuesday 21st February 2017

Gwent Wildlife Trust is delighted to announce it has bagged £5000 from a Tesco funding scheme!

Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help funding initiative, which sees grants of up to £5,000, £2,000 and £1,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to thousands of local community projects every year. Millions of shoppers voted in stores up and down the country. And it can now be revealed Gwent Wildlife Trust has been awarded £5000.

Work will now begin on bringing the project to life.

Children love to learn outside and Gwent Wildlife Trust want to help them do it! This funding will bring school children to our beautiful Magor Marsh reserve, near Newport, to learn about our wonderful wildlife -- including our water voles!

Alice Rees, Water Vole Project Officer, said:
“We are so grateful to shoppers in Tesco for choosing our project to win top prize!
“We can’t wait to bring more children to take part in our outdoor learning sessions at Magor Marsh. Not only will we have a positive impact on the education of the children who visit us, we will also improve their health and wellbeing. Outdoor learning makes children happier, healthier and fitter and they will gain a greater love and understanding of the wildlife on their doorstep.”

Lindsey Crompton, Tesco’s Head of Community, said:
“Bags of Help has been a fantastic success.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the response from our customers. The great thing about Bags of Help is that local people are invited to decide how the money will be spent in their community. We can’t wait to see the projects come to life.”

Voting ran in stores throughout January with customers choosing which local project they would like to get the top award using a token given to them at the check-out.
Since launching in 2015, Bags of Help has awarded more than £27 million across more than 3,500 local projects.
Tesco customers will get the chance to vote for three different groups each time they shop. Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding.

Bags of Help criteria have recently been extended to include any project that benefits the community. Previously the scheme funded outdoor projects only.

Groundwork’s National Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said:
“Bags of Help continues to fund thousands of projects across the UK. We want to ensure that the money raised benefits as many local people in as many different places as possible so we’ve extended the range of groups and projects that we can support.
“The scale and variety of activities supported by Bags of Helps shows what can be achieved when communities are given the support and the encouragement they need to make change happen in their local area.”

Funding is available to community groups and charities looking to fund local projects that bring benefits to communities. Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp