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Young people to take action to improve Somerset’s coasts and rivers in new Blue Influencers scheme

Ambitious plans to improve the environment in and around Somerset’s coast and rivers will be spearheaded by young people, thanks to a new scheme which has brought funding into the county.

Somerset Wildlife Trust was among 22 charities to successfully bid for funding from the Blue Influencers Scheme and is being awarded £20,000 a year for three years.  

The grant will help pay for the employment of a Blue Mentor whose role is to recruit young people to become ‘Blue Influencers’. These young people, aged 10 to 14, with the support of their Blue Mentor, will create and run social action schemes to improve the environment of their schools, neighbourhoods and communities. 

The Blue Influencers Scheme is a groundbreaking project from UK outdoor education charity The Ernest Cook Trust, with the ambition to support young people from underserved communities and those living in deprived coastal, estuary and riverside locations, by empowering them to tackle environmental and climate issues. 

The £2.25 million scheme is being match-funded by The Ernest Cook Trust and the #iwill Fund and will run for three years. Its ambition is to engage more than 4,000 young people as ‘Blue Influencers’, as well as over 15,000 community members across England. 

The #iwill Fund is made possible thanks to £66 million joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to support young people to access high-quality social action opportunities. The Ernest Cook Trust is acting as a match funder and awarding grants on behalf of the #iwill Fund. 

The scheme is entirely youth-led, and even the selection of Somerset Wildlife Trust, along with 21 other registered charities, was made by The Ernest Cook Trust’s Youth Advisory Board, made up entirely of young people aged 14-21. Additional funds up to £5,000 will also be available for specific projects, and it will again be the Youth Advisory Board members who approve these awards. 

Ed Ikin, Chief Executive of The Ernest Cook Trust, said the Blue Influencers Scheme would lead the way in empowering young people to take action: 

“Young people are often the most passionate about the environment and are very aware of the issues we face with climate change. The Blue Influencers Scheme will give them the funding, platform and tools they need to make positive changes to benefit their entire community,” he said.  

“We were pleased to select Somerset Wildlife Trust to join the Blue Influencers Scheme and are excited to see just what the young people come up with.” 

Kristen Lambert, Wilder Lives Manager at Somerset Wildlife Trust, added: “In Somerset, we’re lucky to have 53 miles of coastline with a rich variety of habitats and wildlife. Unfortunately, it often doesn’t get the attention it deserves, but by encouraging young people and schools to engage with our brilliant coast, we aim to help them stand up for this crucial natural asset.” 

The Blue Influencers Scheme is a successor to the three-year Green Influencers Scheme, which ran in a similar way and was also match-funded by The Ernest Cook Trust and the #iwill Fund. However, the Blue Influencers Scheme’s focus is on coastal, riverside and estuary locations and also emphasises giving young people opportunities to learn skills which will aid their employment prospects. 

For more information about The Ernest Cook Trust’s Blue Influencers Scheme visit https://ernestcooktrust.org.uk/what-we-do/green-influencers-scheme/.  

Blue Influencers Scheme launch

Pupils from St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Morecambe, help with the launch of the Blue Influencers Scheme, which coincided with the annual Great British Beach Clean.

Editor’s notes

Further Information

PR Lead – emily.weatherburn@somersetwildlife.org 

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Somerset Wildlife Trust, 34 Wellington Rd, Taunton TA1 5AW  
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Somerset Wildlife Trust 

Somerset Wildlife Trust is a nature conservation charity. Its purpose is to restore and protect the populations of species across the county and the habitats they call home. Climate change is one of the greatest threats to nature, natural habitats and the ecosystems that support our life on earth.  Our aims are to help address both the ecological and climate crises and put nature back into people’s lives.  

Nature reserves and protected sites on their own are not enough. In order to reverse the decline in species’ diversity and abundance, and create resilient landscapes and habitats for wildlife and for people that can adapt to climate change, we need to:   

  • Encourage and support landowners to manage their land positively for nature; create more space for nature  

  • Connect wildlife-rich spaces across the wider landscape to create a robust Nature Recovery Network for Somerset  

  • Create a movement of people – at least 1 in 4 – that take action for nature’s recovery across Somerset as part of Team Wilder  

This is at the core of our new 10-year strategy. Nationally the Wildlife Trusts are calling for at least 30% of land to be managed positively for nature by 2030. What we do in Somerset must contribute to that national ambition. You can read our full 10 year strategy, Wilder Somerset, here. 

The Blue Influencers Scheme

The mission of the Blue Influencers Scheme is to assist young people to create deep, lasting and meaningful connections with the natural environment. Through this scheme young people will learn and build skills which will help them contribute to the local community through environmental action. 

The Scheme was developed by The Ernest Cook Trust as a match-funded project with the #iwill Fund. In total, the #iwill Fund and The Ernest Cook Trust are providing £2.25million over 3 years (from January 2024 to December 2026) to fund youth environmental action. 

The Ernest Cook Trust has provided grants to Host Organisations (registered charities and non-profit organisations) across England to employ Blue Mentors to help young people between the ages of 10-14 years (known as Blue Influencers) to create environmental projects in local schools, youth groups and communities. 

The full list of Host Organisations to receive grant is  

  1. Action For Conservation Brighton  

  1. Canal & River Trust Gloucester  

  1. Child Dynamix Hull  

  1. CDEC (Cumbria Development Education Centre) Workington  

  1. Global Link Lancaster  

  1. Groundwork North East and Cumbria Sunderland  

  1. Groundwork South Paignton  

  1. Groundwork Yorkshire Leeds  

  1. Kent Wildlife Trust Dover/Folkstone  

  1. Lancashire Wildlife Trust Preston  

  1. Mersey Rivers Trust Stockport  

  1. Morecambe Bay Partnership Kendal  

  1. Northumberland Wildlife Trust Newcastle-Upon-Tyne  

  1. Ocean Conservation Trust Plymouth  

  1. RSPB (The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, England ) Purfleet  

  1. Somerset Wildlife Trust Taunton  

  1. Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) Bristol  

  1. Take A Part (TAP) Plymouth  

  1. The Junction Foundation Redcar  

  1. Wessex Rivers Trust Southampton/Eastleigh  

  1. Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) TBC  

  1. Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Devizes/Swindon 

The Ernest Cook Trust 

The Ernest Cook Trust offers children and young people, their families and communities, the chance to learn from the land through hands-on outdoor learning activities. 

The Ernest Cook Trust is a charity limited by guarantee with the sole charitable objective of education. 

The Trust places education at its very heart by offering children and young people a chance to connect with nature and to take action on the environment in a meaningful and positive way. 

The Trust awards around £2m per year in grants based on relevance and impact against organisational objectives. Grants are given to schools or charitable organisations for activities in the UK with a particular focus on areas where there are fewer opportunities to experience the outdoors. 

For more information about The Ernest Cook Trust visit https://ernestcooktrust.org.uk/ or contact press officer Jo Smyth – email media@ernestcooktrust.org.uk. 

#iwill Fund

  • The #iwill Fund is made possible thanks to £66 million joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to support young people to access high quality social action opportunities. 

  • The #iwill Fund brings together a group of organisations who all contribute funding to embed meaningful social action into the lives of young people. 

  • The #iwill Fund supports the aims of the #iwill Movement - to make involvement in social action a part of life for young people, by recognising the benefit for both young people and their communities. 

  • By bringing together funders from across different sectors and by making sure that young people have a say in where the funding goes – the #iwill Fund is taking a collaborative approach.  

The #iwill Movement 

  • The #iwill Movement is a collaboration of over 1,000 organisations and 300 young #iwill Ambassadors from across the UK. They are united by a shared belief that all children and young people should be supported and empowered to make a positive difference on the issues that affect their lives, their communities, and broader society. 

  • #iwill was launched in November 2013 after an independent review into how different sectors could help more young people to make a positive difference.  

  • The #iwill Movement is supported by an independent coordination hub, hosted by Volunteering Matters & UK Youth. 

  • Take the lead by signing up to the Power of Youth Charter at www.iwill.org.uk or follow us @iwill_movement on twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 

The National Lottery Community Fund

 We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name.  

We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK. 

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with government to distribute vital grants and funding from key government programmes and initiatives.   

As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:  

  • Come together 

  • Be environmentally sustainable 

  • Help children and young people thrive 

  • Enable people to live healthier lives. 

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4 billion of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.   

National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £47 billion has been raised and more than 670,000 individual grants have been made across the UK - the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district. 

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Media enquiries (journalists only) 020 7211 2210 
Out of hours telephone pager 07699 751 153. 

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