Environmental project through to the semi finals of National Lottery Awards

Watergrove Reservoir

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A project working in the South Pennine uplands is one of just ten projects in the environment category from across the UK to reach the semi-finals of the National Lottery Awards 2012.

In the Rochdale area, the project is funding improvements to footpaths in the borough as part of the exciting Reservoir Trails project, which uses twenty-first century technology, including podscrolls, to bring the upland features to life.

The Watershed Landscape Project, managed by Pennine Prospects, brings the story of the South Pennine uplands to life through a series of conservation, restoration, education and creative arts initiatives with volunteers taking the lead.

To get through to the finals, the project now needs votes from the public.

Pat Warhurst, chair of the Pennine Prospects said: “Volunteers are at the core of this project: guiding, inspiring and carrying out landscape restoration so winning an award would recognise their toil and passion for the uplands at the highest level.”

The awards are an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects, and they recognise and celebrate the difference that Lottery-funded projects make to communities across the UK. The winners will be featured on a BBC One TV show. 

Since 2009 the Watershed Landscape Project has restored fields, dry-stone walls and footpaths, worked with volunteers and brought the story of the South Pennines to school children. The project is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the South Pennines LEADER programme, (the Rural Development Programme for England), which is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union, and managed by Pennine Prospects.

In the wider South Pennines there has been restoration and maintenance of over 181 meadows, as part of the twite recovery project; an initiative to ensure the twite, also known as the Pennine Finch, increases its population numbers as there are only 100 pairs left in England.

Funding has also been used to restore footpaths, including the Pennine Way, and improve or construct visitor facilities including car parks and a mountain bike trail. Dozens of people have taken part in a number of geology workshops to discover the hidden secrets of the area. In addition, artists in residence have also been engaged over the project’s three year span to help connect people with the landscape.

Over 1,700 pupils from 36 schools children have taken part in landscape based activities from poetry writing to geocaching. The project has also worked with over 1300 volunteers who have donated over 7,000 hours, whether restoring Pennine walls, surveying archaeological remains or planting cotton grass out in the uplands.

One example of a volunteer-led project has been the successful CSI (Carved Stones Investigation) Project to record and help conserve the prehistoric rock art of Rombalds Moor. Possibly dating back more than 4,000 years, these markings are thought to have been made by the same people who started farming and altered the South Pennine landscape forever. Using a mixture of new and old technology to create 3-D imagery; the volunteers themselves have developed ground-breaking techniques that have astonished professional archaeologists and will be rolled out nationally.

The winning project in each category will receive national recognition on a star-studded BBC One TV show in early November and, in addition to the Lottery funding they have already received, will receive a £2,000 cash prize to spend on their project.

Voting for the finals has already started and will end at midnight on Sunday 22 July. To register your vote for the Watershed Landscape Project call 0844 836 9699 or to find out more go to www.watershedlandscape.co.uk or log on to www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards