Southsea school celebrates after securing nearly £9,000 to create 'green oasis'

Teachers parents and pupils at Bramble Infant School and Nursery are delighted their £8,918 windfall means they can now transform their playground into a ‘green oasis’.

So many donations flooded in from 7.30pm on Wednesday when the day-long crowdfunder started that the school sailed past its £2,000 target with ease.

The school was taking part in a competition set up by Crowdfunder and Portsmouth City Council as part of a £30,000 pledge to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the city by 2030.

Funds will be spent on planting wildlife hedges, fruit trees and wildflower beds at the Southsea school, as well as creating a water meadow area, installing bird and bat boxes and training staff in outdoor education.

School headteacher Oli Bradley welcomed the donations from the scheme, worked on by nursery manager Vicky Taylor.

Mr Bradley said: ‘We were astonished by the support we received from the community during the crowdfunding challenge in terms of the generosity of people's donations and the supportive messages received.

‘This goes to show what people power can achieve and how much passion there is for addressing climate change.

‘Winning the first prize of £5,000 from Portsmouth City Council, on top of the money raised through the crowdfunding, will allow us to fully realise our vision. We are so grateful that the judges thought we were worthy winners.

‘The children have been really getting behind the project as well by drawing pictures of what they would like to see on their playground.

‘Their contributions will help us to plan the works that will take place to transform our concrete playground into a wildlife haven.’

Two other environmental projects were in the running for the £5,000 top prize.

Jetsam won a £3,000 boost after crowdfunding £2,000. Launched in 2020 the app allows users to upload images of waste, helping researchers work out where plastics may wash up.

Squidmoo came third after raising around £2,000 - with the same amount added on top by Crowdfunder Portsmouth.

The couple behind the company want to run a city-wide coffee cup return deposit scheme, called WayCup.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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