Acorns, willows and kingfishers will be appearing in every primary school in Norfolk, after a fundraising campaign reached its target in under a month.
Every primary school in Norfolk will receive a copy of
The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris after generous donations by members and local people raised the funds needed in Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s campaign.
The book celebrates the “lost” nature words - such as acorn, willow and kingfisher - that used to be commonly used in the English language.
Norfolk Wildlife Trust added £1,000 from its
Children And Nature fund to the money raised by previous fundraising initiatives. The final £1,000 was raised via donations to NWT’s
JustGiving appeal, which was launched in the Eastern Daily Press and online a month ago. Local businesses including Bertram Books also supported the campaign.
Chief Executive of Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Pamela Abbott said: “We were inspired to ‘pick up the baton’ in fundraising for this campaign following the fantastic achievements of Andrea Tiplady, Patrick Barkham and Henry Layte. It has been really moving how generously Norfolk people have supported it and helped us reach the target. The books will be delivered in the new year for use in schools. If children can feel in their hearts that wildlife is precious, they will love it and want to protect it.”
Robert Macfarlane, the author of The Lost Words, said: "Starlings, skylarks, newts, kingfishers...Everyday nature is falling fast from both our landscapes and our language. This wonderful campaign seeks to reverse that loss and to re-wild childhoods and re-green classrooms across all the primary schools of Norfolk."
Natural History writer, Patrick Barkham said, "Too many children are growing up unaware of their neighbourhood nature. Words such as conker, blackberry and starling are disappearing from our culture and have even been cut from children's dictionaries. The Lost Words is a wonderful book which restores ordinary species' place in our hearts. My children love this book and every child in Norfolk deserves the chance to enjoy it, and become inspired and enriched by the wildlife around them."