Given the current climate and biodiversity crises, we recognise that communities play an integral role in the conservation and regeneration of our once flourishing local green spaces. Nationally, The Wildlife Trusts aim to have at least 30% of land and sea connected and protected for nature's recovery in Surrey and across the UK by 2030, while our mission is to get 1 in 4 people to take action for nature. We know we can't achieve these goals in isolation: by bringing community groups together, we strive to create a powerful nature network.

On Thursday 3rd August 2023, Surrey Wildlife Trust hosted the Community Celebratory Evening and announced the winners of the Community Champion Awards. The Trust hosted the Awards to celebrate the individual and collective actions being taken for nature by Surrey community groups.

As guests began to arrive the atmosphere was buoyant. With ample time for networking, community groups shared ideas and admiration for each others' achievements. Attendees perused the gallery of display boards lining the space, learning from the successes and challenges faced by the other groups in attendance. Communities shared the range of different actions they've been taking for nature, including encouraging people to care for natural pollinators, conducting river pollution testing and developing biodiversity action plans alongside local authorities.

The event saw almost 90 individuals from 35 different community groups come together with a collective goal: to support nature's recovery.

Surrey Wildlife Trust's Chief Executive Sarah Jane Chimbwandira launched the celebration with a talk on the integral role our communities play in nature's recovery. The Community Champion Awards followed, hosted by Surrey Wildlife Trust's Chair of Trustees Angela Swarbrick in an Oscar-esque ceremony.

We received an array of exceptional nominations across all three categories: Emerging Talent, Rising Star and High Flyer. Visiting each shortlisted group, we created videos and carefully selected the winners. The videos, which were presented during the event, gave finalists the opportunity to share their stories and showcased the inspiring actions being taken by communities across Surrey.

Emerging Talent

Rising Star 

High Flyer

Winning groups received bespoke Surrey Wildlife Trust plaques which were handcrafted by our in-house Sculptor Sophie Coad: visit Sophie's Instagram page to explore her portfolio of work. Winning groups will also receive tailored advice from Surrey Wildlife Trust to support them to further enhance their thriving projects.

We'd like to thank all of the communities who submitted nominations and attended the Community Celebratory Evening. It was both humbling and inspiring to hear stories of the wonderful actions being taken for nature across the county.

SWT Community Engagement Manager Claire Harris says:

"Supporting communities is at the heart of our mission and, by bringing these communities together, we can create real, impactful change. All of our finalists have delivered inspirational results and we felt it was crucial that these results were celebrated as proof that everyone can make a difference in their own way."

Winners of the Emerging Talent category Re-Betchworth say:

"Thank you for dreaming up such an excellent way of getting our little group (and all the others too, I suspect) to look up from our inevitably very local focus, and realise we are not alone. Thank you for making us feel like an important cog in a very much larger movement, and for enabling such easy cross-pollination."

Find out more

Visit our Community Action webpage to find out more about our community projects.

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