Exciting Funding News!

With thanks to players of People's Postcode Lottery, we are pleased to announce that our project to improve greenspaces and increase access to the outdoors has been awarded funding by Postcode Places Trust.

Little Ouse Headwaters Project (LOHP) received £24,986, made possible thanks to players of People's Postcode Lottery. The funds will be used to start to improve access around our sites in all weathers, making sites much more accessible to all and increasing community access to the outdoors, while enhancing wildlife habitats. It will help us to further engage and educate local residents and visitors, by providing funding to produce our newsletter ‘News from the Ouse’ and reprint our leaflet that will allow people to explore the Little Ouse and find out more about the wildlife and history of the area. The project will help us to raise our profile and promote volunteering opportunities.

Rob Robinson Chair of LOHP said: “The support from players of People's Postcode Lottery is invaluable, enabling us to carry out much needed access improvements, enhancing wildlife habitats and engaging with a wider audience”.

We hope to start work on the project this autumn, with completion by December 2025. So, look out for next edition of ‘News from the Ouse’ coming soon.

Find out more about the funders

People’s Postcode Lottery https://www.postcodelottery.co.uk/good-causes

The Art of Success

The Art of Success is a fantastic team of volunteers - In this instance I'm referring to the amazing 'Art in Nature' art exhibition that we held at Blo' Norton Village Hall, Norfolk over the bank holiday weekend (25th and 26th August).

With 31 artists exhibiting there was something for everyone. We had over 23 volunteers helping over the weekend and 12 cake bakers. That's not including all the work that had been done prior to the event including all the paperwork and distributing the numerous flyers.

Over the two days we welcomed over 300 visitors, sold lots of artwork, and the teas and cakes flew out of the door. Our aim was to try to raise funds for our charity, LOHP, to help with its valuable work of protecting our unique species and habitats across the fens, and to raise our profile. With the positive feedback from visitors and artists, I think we have achieved this. A huge thank you to everyone involved - see you at the next one.

Saving Ratty

On Friday the 1st December we held our 22nd AGM at Garboldisham Village Hall. Despite a very chilly night we were joined by 68 people. After the formal AGM and Ellie Beach - LOHP Conservation Manager's Highlights of 2023, we started our talks.

This year it was a joint effort given by Vince Lea and Emily Coleman from Countryside Regeneration Trust (CRT) on "Saving the water vole: building a mink-free Great Britain".

The talks were really interesting - firstly a national picture by Vince Lea about the mink trapping project, then what was happening in the LOHP area (location of LOHP rafts below). It was fascinating to hear that genetics and DNA testing are being used to find out where the mink come from. It is great to know all our time and effort put into this project isn't being wasted. Hopefully as the project rolls out across the country our Water Voles will be better protected.

A huge thank you to our speakers and to all those who were able to join us. Hopefully see you next year for another inspiring talk.