Hazel Hill Trust has received £5,000 to fund its conservation volunteering programme for people in and around Salisbury who are experiencing unemployment, mental or physical health difficulties, or other disadvantages.
The donation was provided by the Santander Foundation, which offers Discovery Grants to UK registered charities for projects that help disadvantaged people in local communities.
Hazel Hill is a 70-acre wood near Farley, and the trust was established to use its woodland to offer education and conservation events to promote the wellbeing of individuals, communities as well as to promote nature. The trust aims to use its programmes to teach participants a range of outdoor tasks including tree thinning, path maintenance and wildlife surveys.
The grant will enable Hazel Hill Trust to help people who might benefit from conservation volunteering work, by providing transport to the wood for participants and by paying the costs of professional session leaders to support them.
Caroline Hukins, Development Manager at Hazel Hill said: “This grant will enable us to significantly expand our volunteering opportunities and ensure that we can make them available to groups who might need additional support in order to attend. We know that doing purposeful work outdoors is hugely beneficial to individuals, as well as to our wood, so we are thrilled to have this opportunity to offer it more widely.”
Anne Basset, Branch Director at Santander’s Salisbury branch, said: “The Santander Foundation makes hundreds of donations every year to good causes throughout the UK. We are committed to playing a key part in the community and we are delighted to be supporting Hazel Hill Trust, and hope the donation makes a real difference to local people.”
Any local community groups interested in joining these activities should email Hazel Hill Wood at adventures@hazelhill.org.uk.
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Notes to Editors:
Media Contact
Adam Williams at Santander
Email: Adam.R.Williams@santander.co.uk Tel: 0207 756 5533
Caroline Hukins, Hazel Hill Wood
Email: carolinehukins@gmail.com Tel: 07970 529207
About Hazel Hill Wood
Hazel Hill Trust (HHT) is a registered charity, formed in 2015 to own and operate Hazel Hill Wood, a pioneering 70-acre woodland education centre near Salisbury.
The overall aim and vision of Hazel Hill Trust is to promote wellbeing, resilience and sustainability: for individuals; society and the natural world. Enabling people to engage more deeply with nature, especially woodlands, will be a major means of fulfilling this aim, including the operation of Hazel Hill Wood as a demonstration and education centre.
For more information please visit: www.hazelhill.org.uk
Santander Foundation
The Santander Foundation is at the heart of the Bank’s community activities, providing grants to small charities and social enterprises working with disadvantaged people to fund skills, knowledge and innovation projects across the UK. Discovery Grants of up to £5,000 are available to support three types of activity:
- Explorer: improving people’s knowledge
- Transformer: supporting skills and experience
- Changemaker: innovative solutions to social challenges
Over the last five years, the Santander Foundation has provided £26 million in funding to 13,914 UK charities through Discovery Grants and Staff Matched Donations. For more information please visit: www.santanderfoundation.org.uk
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 31 March 2018, the bank has c19,500 employees. It serves around 14 million active customers, via a nationwide branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking; and 64 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.