Our Work With The Wildlife Trust
The wildlife of Berks, Bucks and Oxon is very special. Why not visit one of our reserves and see for yourself? College Lake in Bucks is one of the best places for water birds. There are bird hides for a close up look at the wildlife, a café for a bite to eat, and friendly staff and volunteers on hand to answer any questions you have.
Our continued relationship with individual Wildlife Trusts
Although our relationship with the central office of The Wildlife Trusts in Newark has come to an end, we are continuing relationships with some individual Wildlife Trusts. These relationships will work in a similar way to that of the BTO outlined above, adding more to the total of nearly £2.5m already donated.
Following a review in early 2023, The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, based in Newark, decided they would no longer pursue a national bird food partnership and our agreement ended on October 1st 2023.
We’ve donated nearly £2.5million to The Wildlife Trusts during our time together, of which we are immensely proud and thank our customers for their support. Craig Bennett, CEO of RSWT, seen here receiving the £2million cheque from Lucy & Nicholas in 2021.
It’s well known that many associations between brands and charities are there for the financial gain of both parties. At Vine House Farm though, the reasons run much deeper and our relationship with The Wildlife Trusts reflected not just the ethos we have about wildlife farming, but the concern we have for the wider health of the environment we all live in.
A measure of our commitment to the relationship was the fact that we gave 4% of our sales to The Wildlife Trusts for customer purchases whether they were a Wildlife Trust member or not, and £10 for every new Wildlife Trust member becoming a Vine House Farm customer.
So our commitment to The Wildlife Trusts was long term and still is – Nicholas is the chairman of our local Wildlife Trust – South Holland branch of Lincolnshire, having been a continuous member since 1964. We are continuing to to work with some individual Wildlife Trusts, including Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Berks, Bucks and Oxfordshire, Surrey, North Wales, Gwent, Cornwall and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. We hope to support more in the coming months.