Peak District bumblebee conservation project in public vote for National Lottery Awards

Pollinating the Peak, run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, has been chosen from more than 1,500 organisations for the final of this year’s National Lottery Awards, celebrating the extraordinary achievements enabled by lottery funding.

Backed by grants of £967,200, the project has engaged more than 20,000 people since 2016, educating them on the importance of bumblebees to ecosystems, how to care for them, as well as creating new habitats via free land management training and advice.

Project manager Sally Cuckney said: “We are so thrilled to have reached the final of these awards, it really means a lot to have got this far. To win it would be amazing recognition for all our wonderful volunteers and everyone who was involved. We’d love for everyone to rally around and vote for us to win.”

“Pollinating the Peak has engaged with people of all ages, inspiring a new generation of entomologists and citizen scientists, taking action from planting pollinator-friendly flowers in their own gardens to carrying out bumblebee surveys.”

She added: “The National Lottery funding has been crucial to the project and we are incredibly grateful to be acknowledged for all the hard work that has gone into educating the people of Derbyshire and beyond.

“Although the project is coming to an end next month, our incredible volunteers are now training and teaching others how to record and monitor our bumblebees so that our hard work can continue to inspire others to look after these precious creatures for many years to come.”

There are 17 shortlisted finalists from across the UK. Winners will receive a £3,000 cash prize for their project and a trophy.

National Lottery spokesman Jonathan Tuchner said: “Pollinating the Peak has done incredible work to show how important bumblebees are to our lives and thoroughly deserves to be in the final of the National Lottery Awards. With your support, they could be a winner.”

Voting closes at 5pm on Monday, October 4. See www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards for details.

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