Citizen News
Celebrations for two conservation charities
1:50pm Thursday 19th January 2012
TWO conservation charities are celebrating landmark birthdays this year with a series of events.
Cumbria Wildlife Trust has notched up half a century of caring for the county’s animals and habitats, while the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) celebrates its 40th anniversary.
To celebrate, the AONB is putting on a series of guided walks and events, including its own Olympics during the summer to discover the area’s record breakers with gold, silver and bronze medals to be awarded.
A special event during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee to celebrate ‘AONB royalty’ will be also be held.
“The AONB is an extra-ordinary place,” said Lucy Barron, AONB manager. “The last 40 years is merely a blip in the area’s history, but nevertheless an important one, in which a large number of people and organisations have come together to make a real positive difference for its future.”
She highlighted the lime-stone heritage project bet-ween 2001 and 2006 as a particularly proud moment for the AONB. Volunteers, contractors, landowners and other organisations rebuilt or restored 9,500 metres of dry-stone walls, 10 historic wells and ponds and 12 prominent lime kilns as well as imp-roving access for disabled people creating a lasting legacy in the landscape.
Meanwhile, CWT has events planned throughout the year. It has already been ann-ounced as the main ben-eficiary from the Wainwright Society, which is celebrating a decade of existence.
A day of celebration will take place on the actual birthday of CWT — Wed-nesday, May 16, while pub-lications of the history of the trust will also be made available from May this year.
The Big Buzz tea party will also kick off in September, where people can help fundraise for the trust.
A spokesperson said: “The most important thing people can do today is help us ensure that wildlife that we have remains part of the Cumb-rian landscape for gener-ations to come.
“Cumbria is significant in wildlife terms — we have more sites of national and international importance than any other county. We are exceptionally lucky to benefit from the wealth of wildlife in our county.”