Sheffield park group scoops lottery cash for climate change projects in first for city

Funding of £8,450 was awarded to the Friends of Whirlow Brook Park from the National Lottery’s new £2.5 million Together for Our Planet fund.

The money will be used on a series of green projects and citizen science activities, including monitoring of rainfall, erosion, ecological recovery and insect populations, as well as training and surveying.

Through local schools and community groups including church groups and mosques, the Friends hope to engage with as wide and diverse an audience as possible.

Sheffield environmentalist Christine Handley said: “The funding will allow the group to do a community eco audit.

"They are looking at how the park can be made more climate resilient. They are also looking at putting in a weather station that can tie in with Weston Park and will link into community projects.

“If a lot of us do small projects, they have a greater capacity to make more impact and will have more benefit overall. You can do something really small, like looking after your local environment so that you can enjoy it for years to come. The friends group feels they can make that contribution and spread that message.

"The local community can get involved with smaller projects because they know what is needed on the ground. We might go there every day and we can see the small changes that might be made.”

There will be dedicated fieldwork days to support the project and a celebratory event with online materials and the legacy of community champions.

The funding is a first for a local group in Sheffield receiving the funds Together for Our Planet to help take action to address the challenges of climate change following the COP26 global conference.

The Friends group launched last year in a bid to return the historic park to its former glory in its 70th anniversary year.

Shelagh Woolliscroft, Chairman of the Friends of Whirlow Brook Park said: “We are delighted to have been awarded funding through our bid to the National Lottery Community Fund for this exciting project.

"The funding will mean we can do far more than we had imagined in helping adapt the park to climate change and to help educate the local community too.”