09 Purdey Award for Newton Rigg Shoot
The university’s Newton Rigg Shoot has won a special prize at this year’s prestigious Purdey Awards. Colin Blanchard and Malcolm Riding attended the awards ceremony in London on 18 November to receive the prize, which is worth £1000.
(From left to right) Malcolm Riding, Colin Blanchard and David Woodcock
Colin Blanchard explains: “The annual Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation are open to any landowner or farmer, shoot owner, tenant or syndicate, or club or association, who run their shoots in accordance with the Code of Good Shooting Practice, and who are engaged in a current project to improve habitats for reared or wild game birds or waterfowl. They must demonstrate improved biodiversity as a result of their conservation work.”
Colin believes Newton Rigg Shoot to be an almost unique project in current UK shoot management.
“What we have here is real integration of modern multiple land use with habitat creation and game and wildlife conservation at its heart, as well as the more ‘urban’ and obvious sustainability projects such as plastic recycling and building insulation. The growing of biomass willow for heat and oilseed rape for making our own biodiesel are in turn
planned as part of the habitat diversity and game shoot drive creation.“
At Newton Rigg, the last ten years have seen the transformation of just over 500 acres of unpromising, intensively stock-farmed low-ground Cumbrian farmland into a small but productive, high quality, driven shoot which gives hands-on education and training opportunities, shows best practice, and integrates wildlife habitat conservation with commercial farm diversification and intensive academic use.
Congratulations also go to the Game Keeping and Countryside Management team and to David Woodcock, for developing the curriculum and providing and supporting the environment, enabling our learners to gain such valuable experiences.
For a presentation containing further information about the Shoot, go to http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RQPsoeJIEI
CN Group Education and Learning Awards 2010
At the inaugural CN Group Education and Learning Awards, known as the Golden Apple Awards, a member of the university’s staff and one of its campuses came out top in two categories. The university’s award winners were: • Shelagh Todd, who won the Lecturer of the Year award, which “recognises the lecturer who inspires students to fulfil their potential and makes an exceptional contribution to their institution”. Shelagh has worked at the Newton Rigg campus for 21 years and has overall responsibility for the development of horticultural education in Cumbria. Passionate and extremely knowledgeable, Shelagh’s areas of expertise lie in plantsmanship, horticultural skills, garden design, plant propogation and organic horticulture.
• Newton Rigg campus which won the Sustainable School award. This award recognises the efforts of a school or college to improve
their environmental awareness. As a “living laboratory” the campus is driven to be sustainable in every aspect of daily life. It constantly seeks ways to cut carbon emissions and waste and develops cash-saving and environmentally friendly biodiversity schemes, including a “sustainable community” project which encompasses all that happens at the campus buildings, in student accommodation and on its working farms. The biomass boiler burns carbon neutral willow grown on site and heats the student rooms, saving £50,000 per year in energy bills, and specially installed meters show students exactly how much energy they are using. Diesel produced from oilseed rape grown on the estate is used to fuel part of the campus vehicle fleet, while straw from the rape is used as animal bedding. Regular doorstep recycling is in operation at the student village and a composter converts food waste into compost.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24