Grants Awarded
The Brecon Beacons Trust is pleased to accept exciting and imaginative applications from voluntary and community groups, for projects that conserve and enhance their local environment and that of the Brecon Beacons National Park. As of February 2012 the Trust had committed over £300,000 in support of such groups. Some examples of grants awarded are given below to illustrate the work of the Trust and as additional guidance to potential applicants.
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Organisation : Friends of Cradoc School PTA Award : £850
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The Brecon Beacons Trust was formally launched at Cradoc School, near Brecon, in June 2009 and as part of the celebrations the school's PTA received a presentation cheque from the Trust. The school has extensive grounds, which includes a small woodland and pond. The school’s PTA was awarded a grant to help improve access to both these areas. Additional work included the construction of a pond-dipping platform with nearby tables and benches and a woodland “classroom” and seating area to allow the children to study the habitats and wildlife in situ. A public right of way runs through the school grounds providing access to the local community
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Organisation : Llangorse (Bird) Ringing Group Award : £1,184
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The Group's award will enable them to purchase a variety of items that will enable them to continue with their important work of monitoring bird populations. A task they have been engaged in since 1980. With the award they will be able to replace core mist nets, the key element of their constant effort monitoring scheme, install a solar panel on their ringing hut, to assist with activities at dawn and dusk, and carry out repairs to the hut itself. The award recognised the importance of collecting long term data sets in helping us understand and monitor large-scale phenomena such as climate change and biodiversity loss.
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Organisation:Merthyr Tydfil and District Naturalist Society (MTDNS) Award: £22,490
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BDCA provide a range of day services, inclusive of “drop in”, designed to empower and support people who experience mental distress, these are accessible and delivered in a friendly and welcoming manner by an experienced team of staff and volunteers. The award of a grant from the Trust will enable BDCA to run a programme of activities forming the “ Spring into the Park” project. This will involve twelve walks and two camping trips, the later based at Cwm Llwch -The Login in the central Beacons. The project will allow people who had never previously explored the Park, even though it is on their doorstep, to gain enormous benefit from directly experiencing the natural landscape around them. There is a great deal of research to indicate that people generally benefit from contact with and being out in nature. BDCA find that people who participate in these activities engage more, and that they come back with greater confidence and self-esteem. Quite simply they feel better. Typical comments include, “ The walks got me out in the countryside which I would not have done by myself” and “ Walking helps to get rid of the blues and the cobwebs”. |
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Award : £45,000 over 2 years |
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| The Wye and Usk Foundation is a charity concerned with restoring the habitat, water quality and fisheries of the rivers Wye and Usk. Through a series of partnership projects they have undertaken many practical improvements to remedy problems such as habitat degradation, water quality, access and over-exploitation. The Foundations long term ambition is to restore both rivers to full sustainability concerning its wildlife, fisheries and social advantage. With its award from the Trust the Foundation will be able to implement additional works on a number of tributary streams of the Usk. This work will also enable the management of high value interlinking habitat corridor; promoting connectivity and promoting biodiversity. Outputs will include restoring a min of 6km of (double bank) tributary stream to increase access for fish by a further 12km of river. Work will continue on an invasive weeds eradication programme to tackle Giant Hogweed, Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan balsam. The Foundation will extend its the angling Passport Scheme to include canoe access and will continue to work with project partners including CCW, EA, Forestry Commission and landowners and occupiers, |  |
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Organisation : RSPB Cymru Award : £12,000 over three years
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RSPB
Cymru has been operating an Outdoor Education Centre at Dolygaer near
Pontsticill since 2004. With the help of the Trust’s award it will, over the
next three years, develop the formal outdoor education programme delivered at
the site and improve the facilities, quality of education and experience that
can be provided for children and young people. The RSPB aims to provide
children with positive direct contact with nature increasing their
understanding and emotional attachment to their environment, motivating them to
conserve nature and protect environment. At Dolygaer pupils and student are
able to explore nature for themselves through supervised sessions including
pond dipping, environmental games. The RSPB anticipates 2,000 children visiting
the centre each year over the next three years. |
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Building on conservation work carried out by VWT over many years, their “Our Beacons for Bats” project will develop a network of landowner and community “bat custodians” living within the Usk Valley, an important landscape for lesser horseshoe bats. Here the Trust owns one lesser horseshoe bat maternity roost and manages four others. This project takes the conservation of the bats one step further, beyond their roost and into the wider landscape, working with local people to achieve a sustainable bat-friendly environment, and engaging the community and visitors to the area in learning about the bats on their doorstep. The main objectives of the project are to raise awareness of the importance of lesser horseshoe bats in the Upper Usk Valley and to ensure local people enjoy the wonders of lesser horseshoe bats by learning about their ecology and environmental needs. VWT will enable local people to identify bats in the field, and help them to promote the special presence of lesser horseshoe bats within their neighbourhood. It aims to engage local communities in mapping out and identifying important landscape features for the lesser horseshoe bat, in order to help inform local land-use decisions |
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Organisation : Brecon Beacons Park Society Award : £7,200 |
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"Walls of Llangynidr" is a community group set up in 2000 to rebuild mountain walls in their area and to train dry stone wallers. In 2006 it became part of the Brecon Beacons Park Society. The Walls group work closely with a number of partner organisations including Llangynidr Community Council, the Dry Stone Walling Association, Llangynidr Local History Society, and the BBNPA. By working with appropriate partners they are able ensure good quality training and well built walls. Criteria for wall selection have been agreed with partners and these include ensuring that there is enough stone nearby to rebuild the wall, selecting walls close to pubic footpaths and those that have a definite ecological and environmental value. The criteria also specify Walls that divide farmland from open mountain, have the support of local farmers and landowners, and are 75% intact. The award from Trust will enable the BBPS and the Walls of Llangynidr to extend their work in the Dyffyrn Crawnon Valley where, as throughout much of the park, dry stone walls form an important visual, environmental, historical and cultural part of the landscape. |
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Organisation : Brecon Canoe Club Award :
£8,915
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| For the creation of a new canoe launch point on the Usk at Brecon, in order to greatly improve access to the river for canoeing and to provide appropriate environmental interpretation for canoeists and the general public alike. |
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Organisation : Myddfai Community Hall & Visitor Centre Award : £25,000 |
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| To achieve high quality external landscaping to the new hall and visitor centre that reflects the local environment, heritage and the project's marketing identity. Amongst other things to create a planting scheme close to the entrance to the main building that relates directly to the Physicians of Myddfai. |
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Organisation : Llangynidr Local History Society Award :
£17,100 over two years
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| Grant aid has enabled the Society to undertake a variety of local archeological and heritage projects including the excavation of the site of a Roman fort, near Crickhowell, and the completion of the Llangynidr Mills Project. The Society has also undertaken a number of surveys such as the Dyffryn Crawnon Farm Survey. The Society works in partnership with professional archeologists, which ensures their work is professionally written up adn reported in approprite archeological journals. |
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Organisation : Local Biodiversity Records Centre (BIS) Award :£1,124 |
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| To provide a range of microscopes for use in local biological recording identification workshops held by BIS and to help in training and developing new recorders, allowing the identifying features of plants and animals to be seen easily. This knowledge can then be transferred to identification in the field. |
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Organisation : Llangattock Area Community Allotment Society Award :£3,859 |
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| The Trust's grant allowed the group to create an accessible and reliable water supply through the installation of a solar powered borehole, feeding a distribution system to the plots. It also helped to fund the installation of a permeable surface to create an access route across the field suitable for the passage of cars. |
