Durham Wildlife Trust played host to the Winter Woodlands event as part of the GeNErosity Festival of Philanthropy that is running throughout November.
The event is just one of fifty other events the festival has to offer with the rest taking place from Berwick to Teesside between 7-27 November.
Today’s attendees were taken on a tour of the Rainton Meadows nature reserve and a got a taste of what it is like to work or volunteer for Durham Wildlife Trust. First, they were shown the woodland skill of hedge planting which encouraged the visitors to work as part of a team to dig holes, plant the young hawthorn sapling and straighten them up with a bamboo cane.
Afterwards, the group got the chance to warm up by a campfire and enjoyed toasting marshmallows and hear more about the work the Trust undertakes.
For the last part of the tour, Durham Wildlife Trust members led the visitors on a scenic walk back to the Visitor Centre stopping to take in views of streams, ponds and ponies.
The GeNErosity Festival is ran by the Community Foundations group whom match generous people with important causes in the community. This event was ran by the County Durham branch which is one of forty-six Community Foundations in the UK with the North East playing host to two other branches, Community Foundation Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley Community Foundation respectively.
The County Durham Community Foundation was set up in 1995 and has awarded £40 million to groups and individuals in County Durham and Darlington with last year being a record breaker for the group as they saw over £5 million being awarded and Durham Wildlife Trust is one of two hundred groups the foundation manages funds for.
The Community Foundation set up the GeNErosity Festival to celebrate philanthropy and it aims to spread three key messages:
- Celebrate and raise awareness of what philanthropy has achieved in the North East.
- Question, debate and inform the future role of philanthropy in the North East.
- Encourage more philanthropy in all its forms, by demonstrating the joy of giving and the good it can do.
If you are interested in attending more free events that are a part of the festival please visit www.geNErosityfestival.co.uk.
