LINCOLNSHIRE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD 2008


The Lincolnshire Environmental Award 2008 went to Doddington Hall and Gardens. Since taking over the running of the family home and gardens of Doddington Hall in 2005, Claire and James Birch have been determined to be as environmentally friendly as they can be. They have resurrected the walled kitchen garden and brought it back into production, growing fruit and vegetables organically and using heritage varieties; as an outlet for the garden’s produce and a centre for other locally sourced produce, they have developed a farm shop and café, with a building that collects rainwater for use in the garden and toilets, and uses natural ventilation and low energy appliances as widely as possible; local schools are involved with their own plots in the garden and a variety of events are held. The entire oil-fired heating and hot water system for the hall, farm shop & café, plus seven other buildings has also been converted to a carbon neutral wood-chip heating system which uses thinnings and dead wood from the estate. One of the most remarkable outcomes is that for the first time in a generation, there are a growing number of residents in the village who actually work in some capacity on the estate.

The category winners in 2008 were:

Agriculture & Rural Winner: Doddington Hall and Gardens
Agriculture Highly Commended:  Uncle Henry’s Farm Shop

Business Winner:  The EPIC Centre, Lincolnshire Agricultural Society. The EPIC Centre is the focal point of the Lincolnshire EPIC Project.  Designed to be the most sustainable of buildings, the EPIC Centre showcases innovation, low carbon technologies and responses to global warming. Dr Nick Cheffins, Project Director, The Epic Project, said: "Winning this award is an absolutely brilliant recognition of the amazing team effort and a real addition to our credentials."

Business Highly Commended:  Envirobarns, Fishtoft

Individual Winner:  Pat O’Carroll, Greenheart. For seven years Pat O’Carroll has been involved in green woodworking and traditional woodland crafts; teaching and demonstrating to community groups and schools. To enhance this, he has recently set up a social enterprise called Greenheart which works within schools and clubs to teach shelter building and wilderness skills and to increase awareness of ecological issues and sustainable development. Pat O’Carroll said: "We’re really chuffed to have won and been involved with such a high calibre of entrants. It will help us take Greenheart further."

Individual Highly Commended: Heather Proctor

Community Winner:  Grantham Angling Association. Over the last ten years or so habitat restoration projects by the Grantham Angling Association has returned the Upper River Witham near Grantham to the state it would have been in a hundred years ago benefiting the rare white clawed crayfish, water vole and native brown trout. Colin Hides said: "We sometimes feel like we are ploughing a lonely furrow and are very pleased that people feel we are doing a worthwhile job. It gives us encouragement for the future."

Community Highly Commended:  Lincoln Conservation Group

LINCOLNSHIRE YOUNG ENVIRONMENTALIST AWARD 2008

First Place: North Kesteven School Eco Committee. The Eco Committee at North Kesteven School won the Lincolnshire Young Environmentalist Award 2008 for their commitment to making being eco-friendly a way of life at the school. Awards judge, Julie Crowson, commented: "It’s extremely difficult to judge such diversity of entrants but the commitment and dedication of the children at North Kesteven School really shines through and the evidence of what they are doing is all over the school." The children were shocked to have won and hope that wining will encourage others at the school to get involved with their varied green projects which include an eco-garden, recycling, walk to school week, as well as monitoring their carbon footprints and setting targets for reduction.

Runners-up:
Gosberton House School
William Hildyard Church of England Primary School
Highly Commended:
Myle Cross Junior School
The Priory School
Melissa Holmes and Lydia Czabaniuk

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LINCOLNSHIRE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD 2007


The Lincolnshire Environmental Award 2007 went to Weirfield Wildlife Hospital.Set up in 1989 by Dave and Ally Townsend, in the first year 111 animals were treated, in 2006 over 2,000 animals were treated. Their ethos is that wildlife should stay wild. Where possible animals are be released back into the wild and the amount of human contact is limited. Dave and Ally, who both work full time, have worked with local pet food suppliers to develop appropriate food for wildlife and developed a release pen. They are now developing facilities for schools, colleges and trainee vets with a new Education Unit. The success of the hospital wouldn’t be possible without the team of volunteers. There are currently about 60 regular and committed volunteers as well as trainee and newly qualified vets from around the world who stay at Weirfield to experience wildlife rehabilitation.

The category winners in 2007 were:

Agriculture Winner: Manor House Farm, Thorpe St Peter, Skegness
In 2005, the Rowson family of Manor House Farm embarked on the ambitious plan to re-create of 115 acres of wet grassland for breeding waders on land which was in a wheat and oilseed rape production. It has been a huge success and is now home to what is thought to be the largest concentration of breeding lapwings in Lincolnshire (71 pairs) together with breeding avocet, little ringed plover and redshank. The farm is also used for training on wetland design and management, and is an inspiration to others.

Agriculture Highly Commended:  Poplar Farm and Sunnyside Up, Market Rasen

Business Winner:  Simons Group
Simons Group, have a reputation in the construction industry for doing things well for the environment. When it came to refurbishing a 1970s office building as their headquarters they have shown that simple, common sense things can reduce the environmental impact: automatic lighting controls adjust to complement natural daylight; rainwater is harvested off the roof and used to flush toilets; and the car parks are made with porous paving or loose gravel so that rainwater recharges the groundwater below rather than running off as surface water.

Business Highly Commended:  Lindum Group

Individual Winner:  Lee Conlon, Lincoln Swan Preservation Society
As the founder member of the Lincoln Swan Society, Lee Conlon has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the Brayford as a natural habitat and in particular for the swans which live there including campaigning to local authorities and British Waterways, and collecting litter and discarded fishing tackle. He has helped rescue swans and was instrumental in the erection of a barrier to prevent swans straying onto a nearby road.

Individual Highly Commended: June Barton, The Magic of the Saltmarshes

Community Winner:  Weirfield Wildlife Hospital

Community Highly Commended:  Mareham on the Hill Churchyard Conservation Project

 LINCOLNSHIRE YOUNG ENVIRONMENTALIST AWARD 2007

First Place: The Isaac Newton Primary School.
Recycling and environmental issues filter through all aspects of school life at Issac Newton Primary School. It’s not an add-on extra, the whole school joins in with environmental activities from reception upwards. In their own words: “We take recycling very seriously.” Teams of children are responsible for different areas: paper, plastic, composting and water. They also have an area of the school grounds for wildlife and in particular for bees. 

Runners-up:
Harlaxton CE Primary School
Lisle Marsden CE Aided Primary School

Highly Commended:
Caistor Primary School
Kirkby on Bain CE Primary School
New Holland Church of England / Methodist Primary School

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LINCOLNSHIRE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD 2006


The Lincolnshire Environmental Award 2006 went to HMP Morton Hall, a semi open female prison near Swinderby.
A general "greening initiative" is evident throughout the premises including a waste management programme that has reduced the waste going to landfill by 50%; a biodiversity action plan and management plan for the area adjacent to the establishment; the use of used cooking oil to run a tractor and heat greenhouses; and an innovative new concept for composting all food waste including meat that is being trialled in conjunction with Brunel University. The staff see it as a way forward for the prisoners, providing them with skills and good habits that they can take back to their own countries. Training, such as an accredited qualification in recycling are also provided.


The category winners in 2006 were:


Individual Winner: Roger Goy, Wildlife Helpline National Service. Roger Goy has been running his Wildlife Helpline Servive since 1990. It is a voluntary service set up to help the public with any questions they may have about wildlife. Roger also broadcasts on BBC Radio Lincolnshire, writes a column for the Lincolnshire Echo and holds weekly "Wildlife Drop-in" sessions at his local pub.


Agricultural Winner: Flintwood Farm, Belchford. Over the past five years Flintwood Farm, hidden in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds, has been transformed into an environmental oasis. the farm has been returned to the same field boundaries found at the turn of the century and a herd of pedigree Lincoln Red Cattle graze the low intensity chalk grassland. It is a stalk contrast to the huge arable fields of before.


Community Group Winner: Friends of Mareham Pastures, Sleaford. Mareham Pastures is a former landfill site which is now, thanks to the efforts of local people, designated a Local Nature Reserve. The Friends group are local volunteers who organise activities such as planting trees, developing a wildflower meadow and regular litter clearances. They also organise events including a dawn chorus walk and annual open day.


Business Winner:  HMP Morton Hall

LINCOLNSHIRE YOUNG ENVIRONMENTALIST AWARD 2006


Aged 12 and under: East Wold C of E Primary School, Legbourne. Children of all ages are actively involved with wildlife projects at the school. They successfully petitioned the school goverors to keep the wildlife pond, feed the birds throughout the year, help look after the school wildlife area and much more.


Aged 13 – 18 years: Metheringham Guides. The guides have been carrying out work at village pond and manage a recycling project.

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LINCOLNSHIRE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD 2005


The Lincolnshire Environmental Award 2005 went to Lincoln Castings for their pioneering project to use waste vehicle tyres to supplement coke in an iron foundry.


The category winners in 2005 were:
Individual: Former Chairman of Lincolnshire Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, Bruce Leggott. Bruce Leggott was Chairman for 21 years and he helped pioneer the concept of uniting the needs of farming and countryside conservation.


Agricultural: Nicholas Watts, Vine House Farm, Deeping St Nicholas. Nicholas Watts has ensured that his farming was friendly to wildlife for over thirty years. On his farm he has retained six miles of redundant dykes, six miles of six metre wide grass margins and ten miles of arable weed margins, fifteen acres of wildflower meadows and much more.


Community Group:  Hill Holt Community Woodland. Hill Holt is a deciduous thirty-five acre woodland which is run as a social enterprise. the project is based on good conservation: working earh closets, straw bale buildings and recycled water for example, allied to local community involvement. It has received virtually no grant income but now employs a dozen forest rangers who manage the wood and supervise forty young trainees.


Business:  Lincoln Castings


LINCOLNSHIRE YOUNG ENVIRONMENTALIST AWARD 2005


The Lincolnshire Young Environmentalist Award 2005 went to Kirkby on Bain Primary School for their work on their school nature reserve. In second place were 10th Scunthorpe Scouts for their work at Frodingham Nature Reserve. About fifty beavers, cubs and scouts have been involved with wildlife surveys, clearing scrub in the wildflower meadow and building bat boxes.

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LINCOLNSHIRE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD 2004

In 2004 the Young Environmentalist Awards went to West Kesteven Wildlife Watch and Weelsby Primary School in Grimsby.


Jacqueline Simpson won the Individual Award category for "Promoting Pride", a creative programme helping schools beat vandalism and litter.


Kenwick Park Golf Club's protection of its Lincolnshire Wolds environment was recognised, while Corus Construction and Industrial in Scunthorpe created a safe habitat for sand martins after discovering nests in stockpiles of olivine (a sand used in steel making).