Learning about the plight of endangered tigers has inspired children at a Warwick school to raise more than £1,200 to help save the Sumatran rainforest.
One student managed to get the baker who made Prince Charles’ and Countess Camilla’s wedding cake to donate a cake as a raffle prize. Another raised £100 in her family pub and others held sponsored silences and swims, Easter egg raffles and cake sale
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Now the money raised by Myton College students will pay for more than 40 hectares of rainforest to be replanted.
The children were raising money for the RSPB’s Save the Sumatran rainforest campaign, in which the charity is working with its Sumatran equivalent Burung Indonesia to outbid logging companies and stop devastation of the habitat, which shelters 260 bird species, frogs, gibbons and tapirs.
Teacher and RSPB member Peneli Grier taught the children about the scheme.
She said: “The pupils were instantly excited and determined to help. The amount raised is very much down to the pupils who needed the motivation to carry out their own ideas.”
Year 8 student Becky Ward said: “We wanted to raise the money because we were encouraged by Mrs Grier and because we are passionate about animals and we understood the dangers and the risks these animals are facing. I managed to raise £280, which is a great sum of money for the RSPB.”
Pupil Lucy Salt added: “We raised the money because of our love of animals and because it is such a good cause. The encouragement helped us keep going with our fundraising and finish to come out with an outstanding result.”
RSPB representative Louise Pedersen presented students with fundraising certificated on October 2. She said: “I am really inspired by the creativity and excitement of the students and applaud them for engaging with a project like this. Thanks to the help of the students, we are now closer to making this internationally important rainforest restoration project succeed”.
www.rspb.org.uk/sumatra
The full article contains 339 words and appears in Warwick Courier newspaper.
