Kent environmental organisation secures CLA Charitable Trust funding to help run nature activities for refugees

A Kent-based environmental organisation has been awarded £2,500 from the CLA Charitable Trust (CLACT) to help run nature activities for refugees.

The trust is funded almost entirely by subscriptions and donations from members of the CLA, an organisation which represents thousands of farmers, landowners and rural businesses.

It provides grants to charities and community organisations who share its vision to help connect people who are disabled or disadvantaged with the countryside and nature.

Led by the Wild is among the groups to successfully apply for funding in the most recent round of awards, receiving £2,500. It specialises in community conservation, outdoor education and nature-led wellbeing from a 30-acre site near Ashford.

The organisation runs regular conservation-themed days focusing on everything from bees to fungi, has an outdoor learning and forest school programme for children, and regularly hosts schools and community groups to learn about the natural environment.

The CLACT grant will be used to help expand a project engaging refugees from Napier Barracks in Folkestone, to offer regular, weekly sessions throughout the winter. The programme will support individuals with their physical and emotional wellbeing, as they help create new wild meadows, wildlife ponds and habitats on-site.

Ali Body, Director at Led by the Wild, said: “We are so delighted to receive this grant from the CLA as it enables us to continue and extend our very successful pilot volunteer programme engaging refugees.”

Vic Nelson, Volunteer and Community Engagement Coordinator at Friends of Napier Barracks, which works in partnership with the organisation, said: “Led by the Wild is a special place. I’m always amazed as the transformative effect it has on the small group of refugees that attend a session there, everyone leaving a little lighter.

“Led by the Wild gives very welcome respite from worries about an uncertain future. We are so chuffed that they can continue to offer these opportunities to our refugees.”

Bridget Biddell, Chairman of CLACT, said: “This new project to provide refugees with a structured education programme on conservation and farming will be very beneficial to a very vulnerable group of people.

“We are pleased to be able to support this and await with interest the outcomes.”