Scottish Borders charity scoops £50,000 in National Lottery funding

A Scottish Borders charity has been awarded £50,000 in National Lottery Funding.

The Berwickshire Marine Reserve is a community-run group that lays claim to being Scotland's first voluntary marine reserve and aims to protect local marine life.

The charity hosts beach cleans, environmental surveys, and talks for local residents about biodiversity and climate change.

58-year-old Sarah Campbell is a retired police officer and moved to Coldingham with her husband in 2022. After moving to the local area they began volunteering with the reserve.

Sarah said: "Berwickshire Marine Reserve was our first venture into volunteering and everyone was very welcoming.

"If you had said to me a couple of years ago that I would be on a local beach cutting up fishing netting and collecting bags full of rubbish I’d laugh, but now it gives me such an immense amount of satisfaction when you see all the rubbish we have cleared.

“Sometimes it feels like we have a huge mountain to climb, but storms aside, you can actually see that the beaches are getting cleaner from the data we collect.

"There are lots of other groups around here and we link up sometimes. When we are all working together the task seems more surmountable.

“The number of volunteers has also increased in recent months and I get the sense that people are really keen to help their local environment.

"Environmental problems can feel quite overwhelming but if you can get into your head that ‘I can do my little bit here’, collectively it feels like you are making a real difference.” 

Commenting on the recent funding, Head Ranger, Charlotte Keeley, said: “At a time when the public is increasingly aware of environmental and climate change and biodiversity loss, we will support local communities to learn about local environmental challenges and to take action.

“A Programme of volunteer activities will include environmental surveys, beach cleans, nurdle hunts, and clearance of invasive and non-native species along the Berwickshire Coast.” 

The Cockburnspath Allotment also received almost £15,000 worth of funding to pay for a part-time gardener to develop their community garden.

Neil Simpson, Chairperson, Cockburnspath Allotment said: “The funding will be used to hire Jess MacLean to supply garden development services at the garden over the next two growing seasons to bring all her experience, knowledge and enthusiasm to take the gardens to another level, help and encourage our plot holders to achieve better harvests and to support our social and educational events.

“Jess runs a small horticultural business and is a practitioner of more modern horticultural methods such as ‘No-Dig’ and ‘Hugelkultur’ which fall in line with our philosophy of growing without artificial chemicals and creating an environment rich in biodiversity.

"Jess will also help to enhance the outcome of our green waste scheme co-funded by The National Lottery, which produces our own compost, a vital ingredient for this type of horticulture and a small source of income for the garden.” 

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