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It's been a busy twelve months
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I am overwhelmed how much has been achieved this year and how many family members, friends and supporters have made this possible. As a small and growing charity, we could not be where we are today without you. Thank you for your incredible continued support which has enabled us to fund so many different outdoor activities. We are ever mindful of finding ways that appeal to young people which will have a lasting and positive effect on them. As always, we remember Cameron and how much his passion has inspired us to find out more.
Our website is regularly up-dated and has lots more information on everything we do but we are pleased to share some highlights for 2018: |
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Cameron's Cottage and
Field Study Centre
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| Our dream to create Cameron’s Cottage is now underway. We are so proud to have pledged £350,000 to renovate a cottage in the RSPB’s latest reserve, Franchises Lodge, in New Forest, Hampshire. Derelict and in need of a total facelift, an architect has been chosen to help carry out this exciting project. Together with RSPB, Sarah Neish, our Trustee, has been meeting with planners to discuss how best to up-date this cottage, as well as adding a Field Study Centre so that both can be sympathetically renovated, yet still in keeping with the environment. |
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“Cameron’s Cottage will be a place where young people can immerse themselves to learn life skills within a natural environment. The RSPB provides us with a unique opportunity to realise our vision.”
Sarah Neish |
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| The history of this cottage is fascinating and the photo below shows the Blanchard family who lived there from 1938 - 1956. |
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| “Although we had many chores to tend to, at weekends and school holidays life was an adventure for us children. There were so many things to discover and our Dad had a tremendous knowledge of the flora and fauna.”) Jane Robino (nee Blanchard |
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| It will be wonderful to bring this place back to life for many to enjoy for many year to come. |
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Art
Ten local Primary Schools entered our “Birds in Winchester” Art competition with over 200 creative pieces submitted. Huge thanks to all the schools for entering and to our partner, the Pilgrims’ School who also hosted the Prizegiving Event. Art is an incredible way to express and engage with nature and we loved how truly creative these children were. Read more |
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| Happy prize winners |
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| Prizegiving at Pilgrim's School |
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Photography
By encouraging young people to learn the skill of photography, you become a better naturalist and have a better understanding of what it is you are trying to capture. We are delighted to work with Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) as well as Florida’s Birding and Photo Fest and are blown away by some of the images from these young photographers. Congratulations to all those who entered. Have a look at some of the stunning entries on our website. See links below. |
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| Winner of the YBPOTY Award, Johan Calberg. Read more |
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| Winner of the Florida's Birding and Photo Fest, Emma Campanellie. Read more |
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Nature and Bird Camps
These camps continue to reach many young people throughout the UK and combines education and hands on experience. Over the course of three days the attendees were exposed to a wealth of knowledge by some experts in their field. |
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| BTO Bird Camp, Thetford, Norfolk. Read more |
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| HOS Nature Camp, New Forest, Hampshire. Read more |
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Scholarship
We nominated Elliot Montieth as this year’s recipient of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bird Event scholarship. This event aims to bring teenagers across the planet together with a deep-rooted passion for birds and encourage them to pursue a career in the field of Ornithology. |
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Bird Watch magazine have kindly agreed to publicise this opportunity and in January’s publication, out very soon, you can read an interview by Elliot. So order your copy now!
We are thrilled to say that entries have just opened up for Applications for 2019! How to apply |
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| Elliot has also just heard that he has been selected by Cornell as one of the five international students to attend a young international leaders event in Brazil. Congratulations, I am sure you will be a wonderful UK representative. |
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Young Ambassadors
A personal highlight for me! This programme was created by wildlife expert, Rachel Flatt and we are delighted to have five budding naturalists who will use their powerful voices to help engage with children and teenagers in their area and share their passion for the natural world They have already undertaken many projects by giving talks, birding walks, creating videos, running stalls and up-dating us with information on many on various interesting topics. It’s been great to see these Ambassador flourish and connect with so many young people in so many ways. Thanks so much to Rachel and our five Young Ambassadors. |
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International
We are delighted to sponsor worthwhile programmes in USA. We have received so much support from our international friends, especially in USA and Canada and are pleased to work with the Homeless Children’s Foundation on various programmes. For the third year, we continue to sponsor easter and summer nature camps for homeless children in Vero Beach, Florida so they can enjoy outdoor activities as well as observe and respect nature. On top of that we sponsored five homeless high school teenagers to train as Junior Guides so they could assist in future nature camps and earn money to help support themselves .
We have also just agreed to sponsor two internships with Environmental Learning Center. ELC is a peaceful 64 acre Nature Reserve and this will not only help their well-being, but will also help them learn learn new skills for future employment. |
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Fundraising
So many friends have helped fundraise and raise awareness of our work so we can continue to sponsor these incredible initiatives. We are very grateful to each and everyone of you. A special thank you to Sarah and Ed Neish for organising Art in Nature, a most wonderful get together of nature artists from all over the country. And during the summer, we were delighted to hear the beautiful voices of Octavoce, a choir from Scotland. Thank you to Frederick Hervey-Bathurst for organising and initiating this wonderful event.
Thank you Elliot for walking on your own, for 100 miles along the North Wales coast, starting from your home town of Birkenhead and finishing in Aberdaron. Elliot raised an incredible £1,670 and persevered through heavy rainfalls during the day and night which even flooded out his tent! What a tremendous achievement!
These people also deserve a special thank you: Su Beeton and her team of bakers at Bereweeke Tennis club, Rupert Younger for encouraging so many friends to join him on a Dawn Chorus walk at 6am, Amy Hall for choosing us as the charity for the year by the Wildlife Documentary Society at Exeter University, Joachim McDonald for his creativity, my sister Emily for raising a huge amount in Falmouth by running a stall for two weeks, my dear friends Jackie Tsitsis, Isabel Boissier, Sarah Wigley and Nicky Bryant for holding coffee mornings and Winchester Cathedral for their charity chalet.
Our shop continues to flourish and each gift has been chosen for a specific reason: to remember Cameron, help wildlife and make a difference to our environment. If you still need some extra Christmas gifts, please consider buying from our easy-to-use online shop. |
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Please do keep us in mind for any donations as we continue to sponsor more and more projects, as well as fund Cameron’s Cottage and the added Field Study Centre. More on this in the New Year. If you have any fundraising ideas, please get in touch as we would love to hear from you and support you in any way we can.
At this time of year, we especially remember Cameron. Through the work of the Trust, his love of nature continues to live on. |
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| Photo by Shelia Traglio |
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| Registered Charity No: 1156567 |
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More information can be found on our website: www.cameronbespolka.com.
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