Children in the UK spend on average less time outdoors than prisoners who legally have to spend one hour outside a day. It also disproportionately affects young people living in poverty because deprived areas have less trees and parks and in most cases, the parks that are there might not be safe places for children to play in. This has a really significant impact on their wellbeing and their connection to nature. 

Woodcraft Folk Green Mentor Elaine said:

“Some of the biggest challenges for teachers are time and money. Time to write risk assessments and time and money to buy resources make things difficult. I provided St Patrick’s Catholic Primary Schooldraft with risk assessments and easy ‘how to’ guides for outdoor activities that require almost no resources like den building, bird feeders and fire lighting. The teachers learned to build their own fire safely and then they had marshmallows on the fire to help them see how delicious and easy it is to take school outside. I also taught them about coppicing their willow trees so in future, they can make their own willow sculptures and den poles/fire wood.  Sometimes it’s just about making use of the resources you’ve got”.

Elaine also shared lots of ideas with the staff about how they can cover the curriculum outside such as running activities like free writing, reading and guided reading, music and art outside on the grass, to cooking bread on a fire, making cave art using their own charcoal and creating their own prehistoric dyes from berries. Also, covering how to follow a scientific method with the children of getting their classes to explore and observe things in nature carefully and make their own science experiments and discoveries. 

Elaine is confident her work will allow all the young people at the school to spend more time outside as their teachers will feel safe and excited to utilise the outdoors to teach the curriculum. 

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The groups played lots of games and enjoyed outdoor activities like painting raised beds, producing terrariums, creating seed bombs (renamed Seed Samosas), tried a zip line, made fruit faces, used a smoothie bike, built dens, learned some new dances and got stuck into lots of craft and creative projects. Everyone also ate breakfasts and lunches outside together creating a community feel. The young people particularly loved using flint and steel and birch bark to light a spark to start the rocket stove they cooked their lunch on.

Elaine helped the groups make veggie/vegan fajitas with homemade guacamole and on another day, French toast with homemade tomato ketchup (the secret according to Elaine is “maple syrup and cinnamon!”). It was almost everyone’s first time trying guacamole and it went down surprisingly well. 

The young people did a brilliant job lighting the stove, cooking, serving and presenting the food with so much style it could have been on a cooking show. Elaine says that “Leeds has a delicious future ahead.”

The groups also went to Hyde Park Source’s Allotment for one of the days to pick their own herbs and vegetables and to help on the allotment. The allotment is managed by a group of adults who are in recovery and the children and the adults all had French toast together and some lovely chats. 

One of the things that made this summer really special for the HAF group was that one of the members was from a refuge (none shown here). Elaine said “This meant the young people had a safe outdoor space to play, where they didn’t feel frightened or have to be quiet but can be loud and free. They made new friends, learned new skills, were valued, cared for and accepted just as they are.  They also usually have very little space so the project gave them the skills and a place somewhere to cook outside and make lunch for themselves and their friends. It was also a space for their mums to be around new people and feel cared for and less alone.”

The project, filled with a summer of delightful activities enjoyed by all, was a wonderful way to include more young people in Woodcraft Folk’s offering and to share in radical kindness, social action, and spanning the world with friendship – all values close to the charity.  

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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 enabled youth organisation Woodcraft Folk’s Green Mentor, Elaine, to work with over 200 young people aged 8-16 from many different backgrounds to engage in youth action for the first time, in 12 different projects in Leeds and Bradford.

Woodcraft Folk were able to secure Grants of around £5,000 from The Ernest Cook Trust, which funded  four of their Green Influencers Projects. The grants were vetted by the Scheme’s Youth Advisory Board, a group of driven and passionate 14 to 20-year-olds who recommend applications for funding to The Ernest Cook Trust’s Board of Trustees. 

These grants have and will continue to make real and lasting impacts on the communities and lives of young people.

Projects funded through the Scheme include a new garden for Co-op Academy Nightingale in Harehills, Leeds which allowed all the students at the school access to a safe outdoor space that was previously grass growing on top of an old tip. It is now blooming with apple blossom and lots of different mint plants are growing for the children to make mint tea which is traditional in the cultures of many of the students so they have been taking some home to celebrate their hard work with their families over a cup of tea. They are also now part of the RHS (Royal Horticultural society) scheme and are working towards their awards and extra funding.

The Peace Garden Project was actioned to make a new community garden outside a mosque sports centre also in Harehills with a cross cultural youth group which are part of Leeds Muslim Youth Forum. The young people turned a derelict car park into a safe outdoor space for people to relax and enjoy wildlife. It engaged young people from across an often divided community and gave them new skills in construction and gardening. The space has gone on to be used as a local event space to develop a mural and host a community cafe, bbqs and to display a knife bin to try to reduce local violence.

At Co-op Academy Beckfield in Bradford, Elaine ran science week activities chosen by the school’s Green Influencers group for 80 pupils on migration, birds, sustainability and food. They made bird boxes, bird feeders, installed a wormery and created a new sensory garden in an unused concrete area and planted fruit trees all round their school. 

At Richmond Hill Academy, the Green Influencers planted an edible growing wall to enable school parents to pick herbs while picking up their children, they planted several 7-foot apple trees, and they are part way through installing a wind turbine to their outdoor classroom and will build new raised beds to grow their own vegetables. 

The Ernest Cook Trust’s Chief Executive, Dr Victoria Edwards OBE, said: “The Green Influencers Scheme is having a big impact across the country and the additional grants of around £5,000 for specific projects are helping to underpin the excellent work being done by our Green Mentors and the Green Influencers. These young people really are making a difference in their communities.”

The Ernest Cook Trust is one of the UK’s foremost funders and providers of outdoor learning. It runs outdoor learning opportunities for children, young people, their families and communities on its own land as well as with partner estates. Every year, it also gives out thousands of pounds in grants, to further outdoor learning.

For information about the Green Influencers Scheme visit The Ernest Cook Trust at https://ernestcooktrust.org.uk/ or email greeninfluencers@ernestcooktrust.org.uk.Woodcraft Folk are pleased to announce that Elaine is also staying on with the charity as a Project Officer to continue to provide free environmental youth social action projects to schools in Leeds and as part of free school meal provision over the summer holiday.  If you would like to know more get in touch with her at elaine.brown@woodcraft.org.uk.

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Woodcraft Folk are one of 36 host organisations that are part of the Ernest Cook #iwill Green Influencers Scheme that aims to support and engage young people (10-14 years – from disadvantaged backgrounds), to participate in green social projects. 

It has been a busy summer for the Green Influencers project.

The Green Influencers in Leeds were ere lucky enough to be awarded £10,000 of extra funding from the Ernest Cook Trust to help the young people achieve their green action projects which they have been planning and implementing.  

The Green Influencers at Coop Academy Grange were awarded £5000 to create a new school garden. The school has never had one before which made the funding even more welcome. The group planned their garden, came up with ideas for the funding application and then with the help of Hyde Park Source (a local community gardening charity), they built their school a beautiful garden with a tent for reading, balance beams to play on and lots of raised beds for vegetables and flowers. They also had financial support from Keelings (a food producer for Co-op) to fill the garden with plants to connect children to where food comes from.

You can follow the latest updates on the Green Influencers project on Twitter and Instagram.

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Woodcraft Folk works daily to inspire the next generation to become environmental enthusiasts from supporting them to take part in climate strikes, to developing activism skills to help young people run climate action campaigns on issues they are passionate about, such as COP26 last year. The charity is also running a successful and inspirational Green Influencers programme. 

Green Influencers is just over half way through it’s two year programme which joins 36 other host organisations to form the Ernest Cook #iwill Green Influencers Scheme. Together, they seek to support and engage young people (10-14 years) in participating in green social projects. 

Woodcraft Folk’s educational work as part of the project focuses on targeting areas across Leeds and Bradford during 2021 and 2022. More than 100 green influencers have been recruited so far. 

The Scheme’s ambition is to help young people realise their potential to positively impact the environment through youth social action: habitat conservation, tree planting, litter picking and lobbying. 

Young people learn new skills and gain experience and confidence as they take action on environmental issues important to them. Most recently, as part of the scheme, Woodcraft Folk took Green Influencers  from Co-op Academy Grange in Bradford, to visit Meanwood Valley Urban Farm in Leeds, to learn about sustainability and the green economy as well as meet some alpacas!

Elaine Brown, Woodcraft Folk Green Mentor says:

‘These are a group where some students don’t usually get to go on school visits and to be involved in these kind of sustainable projects so we are really happy to be able to involve them with the scheme and Woodcraft Folk.

The Green Influencers Scheme aims to help young people who face social and financial barriers to realise their potential and positively impact the environment through youth social action”.

During the visit the school children met farm animals and learnt how volunteers and farmers look after them. They also worked as a team to plant saplings with deer guards, were taught about sustainable farm buildings and how the farm cleans their water with the help of plants. 

Last week, Woodcraft Folk learnt of the news that they had received £5,000 in funding from the Ernest Cook Trust to create a new garden for Co-op Academy Nightingale in Harehill, Leeds. The garden will be designed and co-built by Green Inflencers who are 10-11, Woodcraft Folk and a local community garden charity called Hyde Park Source. 

The Green Influencers scheme continues to work with school children from Richmond Hill Primary Academy and IntoUniverstiy, a charity that helps young disadvantaged people go to university. The scheme will also be working with Breaking Down Barriers, a cross cultural youth project to design and build a peace garden outside a community sports centre that is currently a derelict space.  

This week Elaine will be attending the Green Mentor Conference. 

The Green Influencers Scheme is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and the Department of Culture, Media & Sport are each investing £25 million seed funding to create the #iwill Fund. The Ernest Cook Trust is acting as a match funder and awarding grants on behalf of the #iwill Fund. The Co-op Academy school projects are also being supported by match funding from Keelings (https://keelings.ie/) making the farm visit possible.

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#Iwill are one of the sponsors of the Green Influencer project, they are youth social action movement funded by the national lottery who work with organisations all over the country supporting young people ages 10-20. 

Leeds

The Coop Academy Nightingale Green Influencers from Leeds were lucky enough to learn about and eat some microgreens at Dawndew near Blackpool. Microgreens are tiny green salad leaves mostly like cress and pea shoots, the group also visited their Willy Wonka style invention room where fun and mysterious things grow in bright pink light including garlic chives! Mm delicious. Microgreens are an efficient, sustainable, healthy, British food and it was great for the Green Influencers to learn more about them. They use hydroponics and grow peas on upcycled carpet instead of in soil because it is better for the environment and their business!! And they gave the group cress and peas to grow in paper at home! Brilliant!

The group, joined by Elaine Brown, Woodcraft Folk’s Green Mentor then went to the seaside in Blackpool to do a litter pick to prevent harmful plastics affecting sea life. It was so stormy the litter pick had to take place on the path high above the waves! The Green Influencers also looked at the electric cars, talked about climate change and ways to have less cars on the road.

The Green Influencers said “going to the sea was the best! It was so windy!” “Everything was my favourite part!” “All the eating!” “That leaf was really spicy!” 

The day out was also partly funded by Keelings who supply fruit and vegetables to the Co-op. 

Thanks everyone for making it happen.

Bradford

In Bradford the Coop Academy Grange Green Influencers have been making and throwing wild seed bombs at Scaley Hills to help improve biodiversity, give the bees somewhere to visit in spring and add colour and joy to a hidden green space in an urban area. They also used the NAEE climate education resources made in the summer at the Woodcraft camps to debate climate ethics justice and gender and make some climate crafts. 

In Richmond Hill Primary Academy in Leeds they have been making seed fat balls to keep the birds full in this freezing weather and planting lots of bulbs for flowers and onions and garlic in spring to brighten up their school, learn about how bulbs grow and make our own food. We are also planning a trip to see some llamas in the spring and learn about sustainability and agriculture! 

Thanks always to #iwillfund and The Ernest Cook Trust for their support and funding. 

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Woodcraft Folk’s Green Influencers

Woodcraft Folk is one of the 37 host organisations involved in the project, which is led by the Ernest Cook Trust. Green Mentor Elaine Brown has recruited 90 young people as Green Influencers across Leeds and Bradford. Nine months into the two-year project, there are now 1,500 Green Influencers across the UK, and the scheme is on target to enlist 5,000 young people between the ages of 10 and 14 by the end of the project.

“Our Green Influencers in Leeds and Bradford are an inspirational group of young people from many different backgrounds,” said Elaine. “They’ve got many different interests and concerns, but they’ve all approached the project with bags of enthusiasm. Their social action projects have ranged from investigating air pollution in their neighbourhood to interviewing a local MP about COP26.”

COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference is starting on October 31. World leaders will gather in Glasgow to discuss global climate issues. The Green Influencers scheme is demonstrating how young people are already trying to make a difference by getting engaged with their environment and improving their communities. The scheme is a project match-funded through the #iwill Fund which is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and Department of Culture, Media & Sport. Each of which are investing £27million seed funding to support young people to access high-quality social action opportunities.

In the past 12 months in Leeds and Bradford there are/have been Woodcraft Folk Green Influencer-led projects in;

• Rosebank Primary School (Burley),
• Co-op Academy Nightingale (Harehills),
• Richmond Hill Academy (Richmond Hill),
• IntoUniversity Leeds East (Harehills)
• IntoUniversity Leeds South (Beeston)
• Co-op Academy Grange (Bradford)

The pioneering scheme has been match-funded through the #iwill Fund, which is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and Department of Culture, Media & Sport, which are each investing £27million seed funding to support young people to access high-quality social action opportunities.

“What’s significant about the Green Influencers Scheme is the reach it has, and we are thrilled to be on course to enlisting 5,000 young people. The enthusiasm of those involved is inspiring, and we have been so impressed with their ideas and their creativity. We are very grateful to the Green Mentors for the guidance they are giving,” said Victoria Edwards, Chief Executive of the Ernest Cook Trust. “While the world talks about climate change, the young people of our country are getting out there and making a difference.”

For information about the Green Influencers Scheme visit The Ernest Cook Trust website or email greeninfluencers@ernestcooktrust.org.uk.

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Green Influencers is a youth social action campaign working all over England with lots of local organisations to help young people aged 10-14 engage in local projects in their communities to make them better places to live. 

It was a packed day and an opportunity to meet all the Green Mentors and organisations working on the scheme from across the country.

Highlights of the day included hearing from the Youth Advisory Board who were the inspirational young people who planned and organised the nationwide scheme and who will decide on the grant applications

Participants also heard a talk from Rhiane from Black Girls Hike an incredible organisation tackling the lack of inclusivity in the outdoor industry and outdoor spaces. 10% of the British population is from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds but only 1% of National Park visitors are, and Black Girls Hike are working create opportunities to change this. As well as from Amy from Kids Against Plastic a charity she set up with her sister when they were just 10 and 14 who have picked up 82,000 pieces of single-use plastic litter ,done a TedX talk and help people and organisations become ‘plastic clever’ to reduce using plastic in the first place.

Elaine is beginning work with her Green Influencers in Leeds and Bradford in April and we are sure they will achieve great things!

Please contact Elaine Brown at elaine.brown@woodcraft.org.uk if you live in Leeds and Bradford or fill out this form. 

Follow us on Twitter @WcF_Influencers. If  you live in another area of England please check the map to find your local Green Mentor.

The Green Influencers Scheme was set up by The Ernest Cook Trust (an educational charity) and is match funded with the #iwill Fund. The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department of Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) are each investing £25 million seed funding to create the #iwill Fund and The Ernest Cook Trust is acting as a match funder and awarding grants on behalf of the #iwill Fund.

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The event was a big success with lots of young people from all over the country attending virtually as well as local groups and group leaders and other Green Mentors in the North (from the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, Prospect, St Nicks, the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Youth Work Unit, Oaklea Trust). We are really excited to get started and work with our local Woodcraft Folk Groups as well as the Coop Academies, Hyde Park Source, All Hallows, IntoUniversity the Canal and River Trust and other local youth groups. 

Green Influencers is a youth led project that aims to help young people realise their potential to positively impact the environment through youth social action. We will be supporting groups of young people (10-14 years) in Leeds and Bradford to plan and run green social projects in 2021 and 2022. Young people will learn new skills and gain experience and confidence as they take action on the issues important to them. Activities can also be part of them gaining Duke of Edinburgh or John Muir awards. There is funding of £350-£5000 available for the projects and all types of community/charity/sport/religious youth groups and school groups can get involved.

The Green Influencers Scheme is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and the Department of Culture, Media & Sport are each investing £25 million seed funding to create the #iwill Fund. The Ernest Cook Trust is acting as a match funder and awarding grants on behalf of the #iwill Fund.

Please get in contact with Elaine Brown  elaine.brown@woodcraft.org.uk for more information or fill in this form to sign up your group. If you don’t live in Leeds or Bradford please look at this map to find your local green influencers scheme in England.

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The Green Influencers Scheme aims to help young people realise their potential to positively impact the environment through youth social action. These actions are youth led and can be anything from greening a local space, tree planting , applying for solar energy for their school or community building or getting involved in local politics.

Young people will learn new skills and gain experience and confidence as they take action on the issues important to them. Activities can also be part of them gaining Duke of Edinburgh or John Muir awards. There is funding of £350-£5000 available for the projects and all types of community/charity/sport/religious youth groups and school groups can get involved. We want to hear from everyone but especially if your group hasn’t done environmental activity before. As with all Woodcraft Folk activities everyone will be warmly welcomed and supported in a way which suits their needs.

The Green Influencers Scheme is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and the Department of Culture, Media & Sport are each investing £25 million seed funding to create the #iwill Fund. The Ernest Cook Trust is acting as a match funder and awarding grants on behalf of the #iwill Fund.

Please get in contact with Elaine Brown  elaine.brown@woodcraft.org.uk for more information or to sign up your group. If you don’t live in Leeds or Bradford please look at this map to find your local green influencers scheme in England 

We are having a Green Influencers session on the 1st of March at 7pm as part of Our #DreamBigAtHome events . Please come along (virtually!) to hear more and do some fun easy climate activities!

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The Green Influencers Scheme was borne out of a desire to help young people reliase their potential to positively impact the environment through youth social action: habitat conservation, tree planting, litter picking, lobbying etc.

Young people will learn new skills and gain experience and confidence as they take action on the issues important to them. 

As part of the project Woodcraft Folk will be recruting a dedicated Development Officer to work with partners and groups of young people. For more information about the part-time Development Officer (Green Mentor) vacancy please visit here.

The Green Influencers Scheme is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and the Department of Culture, Media & Sport are each investing £25 million seed funding to create the #iwill Fund. The Ernest Cook Trust is acting as a match funder and awarding grants on behalf of the #iwill Fund.

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