The Ribble Life Together project is officially underway!
Last week’s project launch event at Brockholes Nature Reserve was a huge success! The event celebrated securing £1.6 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund with a fun-filled, activity packed day which was supported by catchment partners and staff.
We’ve been developing the Ribble Life Together project for the past two years in collaboration with our catchment partners. The £3.2 million project will now be delivered until 2020 thanks to funding from our partners and other sources.
The launch welcomed many guests, including representatives from the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Rivers Trust, Environment Agency, United Utilities, Woodland Trust, Forestry Commission, Wildlife Trust, Yorkshire Dales National Park, and local community groups.
Also in attendance were the Horse and Bamboo Theatre Company, the project’s artistic partners, with a display featuring a range of their wonderful puppets and sensory art works. Esther Ferry Kerrington, Executive Director at Horse and Bamboo, was kind enough to speak at the event, delivering an insight into the world of Horse and Bamboo and the importance art can have in raising awareness of issues that affect our natural heritage.
The teachers and students from Sir Tom Finney Community High School, Preston, also attended the event. Ribble Trust works in partnership with schools to educate and engage young people and the students demonstrated their knowledge of all things river to the other attendees! Find out more about our programme for schools here: http://ribblelifetogether.org/learn/river-in-the-classroom
In the afternoon, speakers included Lorraine Ritchen-Stones, one of the Ribble Trust’s volunteers. Lorraine delivered a presentation which told the story of her journey into a conservation career, which was kick started thanks to her volunteering at the Ribble Trust!
Throughout the day a range of interesting, innovative and fun activities were on show in the reception area. These ranged from Virtual Reality Rivers which immerse users in the world of rivers using specialist software, headsets, and headphones, to the river simulator which provides a visual insight into the geomorphology of rivers.
Other activities included guided nature walks, riverfly displays, trout tanks, short film screenings, capturing sound bites, and woodlands, wetlands and fish pass displays.
A huge thank you to all the guests and speakers at the launch event, Brockholes Nature Reserve who hosted us, all the project funders, and everyone who has helped us on the Ribble Life Together journey so far!