50th Anniversary Highlights

A 50th Anniversary comes only once and we focused on celebrating and looking forward to the next 50 years.

It is only fitting that now the Anniversary year is over we reflect on the highlights of the last 12 months but also look at how we and you can continue to support the wildlife of Dorset.

Raising Awareness

Dorset A Naturalists County ­ Book by Nigel Webb and Tony Bates.

Written by Chairman Nigel Webb and illustrated by President Tony Bates, this unique book celebrates the county with the greatest biodiversity for its size in Britain. Click here to buy your copy.

Publicity

In our big year, we starred on TV on numerous occasions, with the high point being a media frenzy around the cutting down of the last rhododendron on our Brownsea Island nature reserve, which made national TV and radio, and rightly so!  A big Thank You to our media friends for a great year, especially media partner Dorset Magazine.

42 To Do

Our 42toDo route around our reserves was our surprise success during the year, with over 1500 maps distributed and some very inspiring stories. Congratulations to everyone who has completed it and received their gold badge.

Raising funds for the future. 

£50 for 50 - Mission entirely possible!

We challenged our members to raise £50 in the 50 for 50 Challenge. You have come up with some wonderful challenges, from car washing to cake baking; sponsored runs to boxing day swims; ceilidhs to concerts; rhododendron cutting to garden openings; birthday bashes to wedding gift donations. Thank you all.  You can see our Thank You slideshow gallery here.

Jurassic Challenge

This turned into one of our biggest fundraisers of the year, raising over £5000. Walking 50 miles in 50 hours seems like a straightforward challenge but the 36 participants who set out from West Bay to walk to Durlston Head might disagree.  We will be looking for other similar challenges for the future so get in touch if you are interested.

Dorset Golden Dinner Night

In November supporters of DWT came together to raise money with a county wide Golden Dorset Dinner Night, which raised nearly £2,000. If you would like to host your dinner party in November 2012 please ring 01305 264620 or e-mail fsansom@dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk

Simon King Talk

Sherborne Members’ group hosted a talk by our 50th Anniversary Patron in December. Many thanks to Simon King for bringing his expertise, energy and enthusiasm to us for this fabulous sell-out event.

Celebrating

Golden Jubilee Gala Concert - Saturday 3rd December 2011

Jubilee patron Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducted the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Lighthouse for this glittering sell-out event, presented by no less than our long-time supporter Sir David Attenborough.  This was without doubt a fitting end to our 50th Anniversary celebrations.

And Finally……

Our 50th Anniversary fundraising has already raised over £50,000, and the money is still coming in, to help us take on future projects that conserve the wonderful countryside and wildlife that we have here in Dorset.

So here’s to the next 50 years.  DWT is a charity which receives no government funding and we rely on fundraising to do the essential work we carry out.  So if you are as passionate as we are about conserving our wonderful wildlife and getting more people engaged with the natural environment then you can help. 

All you have to do is ‘Think of DWT’

• chatting to your friends. ­ Would they like to join us?
• if you are planning a sponsorship challenge
• suggesting DWT for a fundraising event such as fete, carnival etc.
• doing some voluntary work either regularly or as a one off

Click here for your copy

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

A massive thank you to everyone who took part in the £50 for 50 Challenge

Thank you to all our
Jurassic Challenge walkers

Thank you to everyone who supported our
Golden Jubilee Gala Concert