Community project to continue improving lives using nature thanks to National Lottery support

[lead]Wild at Heart – a community project run by Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust – has received £167,758 of National Lottery funding to help over 1,000 vulnerable and isolated adults in Sheffield and Rotherham improve their lives through nature over the next three years.[/lead]

Wild at Heart works specifically with adults aged 50 years and over. The programme was set up to deliver wildlife-related activities for older people and other vulnerable and isolated adults in Sheffield and Rotherham that will improve their health and wellbeing, reduce isolation and give them the confidence to get out and about in their community. It uses a hobby-based approach to give people opportunities to try new things and gain the confidence to continue on their own or with family or friends.

Over the last five years, more than 4,000 people in Sheffield and Rotherham, with an average age of 70, have taken part in Wild at Heart through more than 700 nature-based activity sessions. More than two thirds of these took part for over six months and over 1,700 reported being more active as a result.

Thanks to the funding from the Big Lottery Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, the following activities will be delivered through Wild at Heart in 2019:

• The Longley Wild at Heart group based at the Longley Four Greens Community Centre in the north of Sheffield is in the heart of a community which has faced many challenges in recent years. Weekly nature activities for over-50s will be all about making the most of the seasons, connecting with nature on your doorstep, and meeting like-minded people.
• A monthly Nature Photography for Wellbeing group will be held alternately at four l