A colourful new vehicle is hitting Cumbria’s roads as West Cumbria Rivers Trust unveil their new van decorated with drawings by local children.
The Keswick-based charity’s ‘Design Our Van’ competition for under-16s attracted more than 100 entries, including entries from St. Herbert’s Primary School in Keswick, St. Bridget’s Primary School in Egremont and Lowca Community School.
Three winners and five runners-up were given book tokens and invited to an unveiling event on 21 February, where they saw their artwork enlarged to cover the van for the first time and were given copies of the charity’s new children’s book, The Adventurous Salmon.
The winners and runners-up were Jack Bacon and Luis Salas from Keswick, Islay Lane from Bassenthwaite, Eve McMullan from Ravenglass, Jensen Blanks from Egremont and Murin, Eden and Lawson Birks from Gosforth.
Jodie Mills, Operations Director at West Cumbria Rivers Trust, said: “We work closely with local schools, providing education sessions to help children appreciate and understand our fantastic rivers. This competition was a great way to get them thinking about the wildlife we find in our rivers.”
The Trust has been growing steadily in recent years, attracting funding for an increasing number of conservation projects on West Cumbria’s rivers and lakes which the new vehicle will help the team get to sites with an ever increasing amount of tools and equipment.
Jodie said: “Our team’s grown in size so we needed another van to get people out in the field. This new van is also larger than our existing two so will enable us to complete bigger projects. Keep an eye out for us on the roads of West Cumbria!”
The vehicle is kindly sponsored by Border Cars, United Utilities and the Copeland Community Fund.
