Augill Meadow
Please consider leaving a gift to Cumbria Wildlife Trust in your Will
A gift in your Will is the greatest gift you will ever make – a gift that will safeguard the future of local wildlife for generations to come. All gifts, large or small, make a vital contribution to meeting the conservation needs of our very special county.
After remembering loved ones, please consider a gift to Cumbria Wildlife Trust in your Will. Giving a gift of 1 percent to the Trust will help us continue our work and leaves 99 percent for your family and friends.
We promise to use any gift you leave to achieve the maximum benefit for wildlife and we will handle your gift with sensitivity and respect. We will not put any pressure on you to tell us about your decision to leave us a gift in your will, but we would of course love to hear from you, just so we can say thank you.
Memory leaves
All gifts in wills that we receive are acknowledged with an engraved brass leaf which will be displayed at one of our nature reserves for a miminum of 10 years.
You can also purchase a memory leaf to remember a loved one or special event. Find out more.
Why your gift is vital to us
Gifts in wills secure the future of habitats and species under threat.
The gifts of people just like you have
- Bought and managed nature reserves
- Protected endangered species
- Educated and inspired a new generation
- Supported volunteers to conserve local places
- Campaigned on behalf of local wildlife
Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s record of success is attributable to all those who support our work. In recent years, the Trust has undertaken one of the largest peatbog restorations in the country, secured the future of Eycott Hill as a new nature reserve, worked with landowners to restore valuable haymeadows and upland wetland habitats and involved a network of over 500 volunteers learning about and taking action to protect the wildlife of our county.
Imagine what your gift will achieve in the future…..
Thank you to Juliet Kay
Our plans for the new education centre at Gosling Sike Farm, which is due to be built this summer (2017) have been given a boost after we received a gift in the Will of Juliet Kay.
Juliet was a member of Cumbria Wildlife Trust and cared deeply about wildlife and the natural world. During her life she travelled widely, spending time in Rhodesia and the Azores. In the 1960s she lived with the Cree Indians on a remote reserve close to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba where she worked as a nurse. After returning to the UK she became a voluntary warden at Heyshott Down nature reserve and a Trustee of the Murray Downland Trust in Sussex before moving to Appleby in Cumbria in the late 1990s.
Juliet passed on her love of nature to both her daughter and granddaughter so it is fitting that she will continue to inspire future generations to learn about and care for wildlife, thanks to the generous gift in her will.
Gosling Sike Farm, which is siutated just outside Carlisle in the village of Houghton, was gifted to the Trust by Susan Aglionby in 2009. Since then the Trust has worked to re-meander Gosling Sike and recreated wetland habitats. An access-for-all footpath was opened in July 2014 which runs for around 1km through the farm's water meadows and paddocks linking an existing footpath from Tarraby to Houghton village.
Thank you to Jenifer Leech
Funding for vital management work at Eskmeals Dunes Nature Reserve near Ravenglass was provided by a generous legacy left to the Trust by Jenifer Leech from Gosforth. During her life, Jenifer served as treasurer for the Trust's West Coast Local Support Group, and as she loved the landscape and wildlife of the west coast, it was fitting that her legacy could be used at Eskmeals Dunes, a nature reserve close to her home.
The management work will benefit the dune grassland habitat, where specialist plant species including wild pansy, lady's bedstraw and Portland spurge are found.
Legacies such as Jenifer's are vital to the Trust's work, enabling us to fund conservation work or purchase new nature reserves. If you would like more information about leaving a gift in your will, and how this might be used, please do get in touch with us.
Thank you to Dorothy Barnes
We have gratefully received a gift in the will of the late Dorothy Barnes. She and her husband were involved with the Lake District Naturalists' Trust in the 1960s, which became Cumbria Wildlife Trust. Two of her children, Helen and Peter, are members of the Trust and have collectively been supporters for over 88 years.
Helen remembers: “While my father took an active role as one of the founding members of the Naturalists' Trust and, for a while, Editor of the Newsletter (notoriously making national newspapers by asking volunteers to feed medicinal leeches at Barkbooth Lot in an April 1st edition!), my mother took more of a backseat role. Some people would remember her hosting work parties in the Arnside area and providing welcome refreshments.” The Trust now hosts over 150 volunteer work parties a year,and providing hot drinks and biscuits remains an important part of the day!
Dorothy’s gift is being used to support the ongoing management of Barkbooth Lot Nature Reserve as there’s an important family connection to this very special place. Helen gifted part of it, Howbarrow Meadow, to the Trust in 2004, and the Caldwell family, into which she married had gifted the original nature reserve in 1975 for us all to enjoy.
The nature reserve is packed full of diversity, from open fells to woodland and two small tarns. On a clear day from the highest point you can get magnificent views of both the Lakeland fells and Morecambe Bay. In the winter you can get good views of woodland birds and roe deer. In July, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Barkbooth Lot and Trustees, staff and supporters of the Trust marked the special occasion with a glass of bubbly at the nature reserve. Joe Murphy, Senior Reserves Officer, said: “We’ve been looking after it for 40 years and gifts like this from Dorothy will help us keep it as wonderful as it is now for many years to come.”
Find out more about legacies in action