Each year, TEP’s Environment Grant offers funding in support of local projects that raise awareness of environmental issues, further the environmental profession and resonate with our core values.
This year we are thrilled to announce our support for three organisations and groups that share a common vision for enhancing the wellbeing and overall quality of life in our communities and surrounding environment.
Our first awardee is Biddulph Youth and Community Zone, a social enterprise based in Stoke-on-Trent, that is creating a community garden to offer environmental education to local residents. The project provides hands-on learning experiences in gardening, growing fruit and vegetables, recycling, and understanding local wildlife. This initiative will greatly benefit disadvantaged, socially isolated, and vulnerable members of the community, fostering relationships and friendships while equipping them with valuable new skills.
Our second awardee, EcoVida Routes Ltd, is launching a pilot program to provide Sustainability Education to 1,000 primary school children in the Halton area. The initiative aims to create social action projects that directly address key issues in schools, including biodiversity, energy use, and waste management. This pilot program will empower schools to listen to students’ concerns, enhance the curriculum, and create meaningful projects that drive positive change within the school, at home, and in the wider community. The goal is to promote sustainability by educating young people about recycling, renewable energy, and the critical importance of biodiversity, fostering a deeper understanding of environmental responsibility.
Our third awardee, Grappenhall Heys Primary School, will use the funding to create a willow garden that enhances biodiversity, supports their goal of rewilding 75% of the school grounds, and provides a sustainable, hands-on learning environment. Students will actively participate in planting and maintaining the garden, gaining knowledge about sustainable practices such as irrigation, soil enrichment, and pruning. Ongoing care will become a regular part of school life, involving all year groups, the school gardening club, parent volunteers, and the eco council. This initiative aims to foster environmental awareness, promote biodiversity, and offer immersive learning experiences for both students and the wider school community.
TEP has previously awarded funds to:
🌿 The Mersey Gateway Environmental Trust (MGET) to promote the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment of the Upper Mersey Estuary and related areas.
🌿 Twiss Green Primary School to develop a sensory garden and vegetable patch, aiming to encourage outdoor education, boost biodiversity within the school grounds, and offer a chance for children of all ages to engage with the natural environment.
🌿 Kingsteignton Wild to create a 2km nature trail connecting two local schools in South Devon.
🌿 Sustainable Penzance CIC to develop their website and to create an online ‘portal’, containing information, training, resources and support on how to reduce the impact communities and businesses have on the local environment.
🌿 Our Only World to support a biodiverse marine environment through the modification and enhancement of manmade structures such as sea walls in Cornwall.
🌿 RE-PEAT to help promote Peat-Fest 2022, a 6-day online festival dedicated to celebrating peatlands and raise awareness of their importance.
🌿 Croxteth Park Volunteer Group to offer bi-monthly recording sessions for volunteers and local school children using the iNaturalist app, which will feed into local, national and global databases.
🌿 PLACED Academy who run a free Environmental Academy for 37 students from diverse backgrounds throughout the Liverpool City Region.
🌿 Kirkby C of E Primary School to facilitate Forest School style sessions for all their children.
🌿 Friends of the Upper Wye to restore the ecological health of The River Wye for local communities, for visitors to the region, and for all the invertebrates, fish, mammals and birds that also call it home.
🌿 St Basil’s Catholic Primary School in Widnes to help improve the school’s natural environment.
🌿 PhD candidate Richard Bentley to identify, map and share information about quiet spaces and their benefits for human wellbeing and the environment.
