Seven CPRE [1] volunteers have been recognised by the first Marsh Awards for the Benefit of Rural England [2]. The Marsh Awards seek to recognise unsung heroes who aim to improve the world in which we live.

A volunteer from CPRE Norfolk, Martin Walton, has been awarded with the individual category Award for his long standing commitment to the innovative CPRE Norfolk Awards [3].  The group category has been awarded to six volunteers from CPRE Hampshire for their outstanding dedication and enormous contribution to the South Downs Campaign [4] since 1999.

The Awards will be presented at CPRE’s Sharing Success volunteers’ conference in central London on Saturday 1 November. The Awards will be presented on an annual basis, sitting alongside CPRE’s existing Countryside Medal.

NOTE FOR EDITORS

Photographs of Martin Walton from CPRE Norfolk are available on request from CPRE’s press office 020 7981 2880.

For further information about CPRE Hampshire’s campaign for the South Downs, the volunteers involved and images of activities they have organised including a location visit by CPRE President Bill Bryson please contact: Keren Burney on 01730 894123 / 07876 780065.

Commenting on winning the Award Martin Walton said:

‘It’s a great surprise and honour to accept this national Award.  I volunteer for many different bodies out of a life-long passion for the countryside and its architecture, but it is my work with CPRE that has been most sustaining.’ 

Christopher Napier, speaking on behalf of the group of six volunteers from CPRE Hampshire, said:

‘We are delighted to accept the Award which recognises the significant role that CPRE Hampshire members have played within the South Downs Campaign in advancing the South Downs National Park and in attracting new members and supporters from the Western Weald area.  Although we have to wait for the Ministerial decision in March or April 2009 on the future of the National Park, we feel that the work that has gone into reaching this stage will ensure a sustainable National Park for the benefit of future generations.’

Brian Marsh, Chairman of The Marsh Christian Trust and Chairman of the judges said:

‘When we first looked at this Award we felt that voluntary rural protection was an unequal struggle between the thin red line of volunteers on the one hand and the armies of fully-paid professionals who would happily cover the countryside with concrete on the other. We are delighted to be making a contribution to the continuing work of CPRE and their volunteers in all their efforts on behalf of our rural areas and in trying to tip the balance in favour of the thin red line!’

The individual prize for the Marsh Award is £500 and the group prize is £1,000.  Martin has decided that he will be using the prize money to visit other award winning landscape and architectural projects outside Norfolk, to further his knowledge of exemplar schemes, while the volunteers from CPRE Hampshire have unanimously agreed to donate this to CPRE Hampshire’s fundraising efforts.

– END –

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. www.cpre.org.uk

2. The Marsh Christian Trust was established in 1981 and has two main areas of work: grant-making and the Marsh Awards.  The Trust runs a portfolio of Awards with a number of internationally recognised organisations and seeks to recognise unsung heroes who aim to improve the world in which we live. The Marsh award for the benefit of rural England, in association with CPRE, has been set up to enable CPRE to demonstrate its appreciation of these people who care deeply about their environment and have played a significant part in improving and protecting it, and in enabling this to happen.  The awards will be presented on an annual basis, sitting alongside CPRE’s existing Countryside Medal which branches award unilaterally to long-standing volunteers.

3. The CPRE Norfolk Awards, founded in 1979, are one of the longest running environmental award schemes in the country. In the late 1970s, the Norfolk Society (the former name of CPRE Norfolk) was inspired to recognise positive examples of ‘significant small scale achievements in the field of conservation’ through the granting of Awards. Now, in 2008 literally hundreds of projects throughout Norfolk have received awards and they are a continual reminder of the importance of enhancing and preserving the Norfolk landscape and its architecture.  Approximately 25 projects are now recognised annually.

Martin Walton was one of the earliest committee members and has remained a key figure in the scheme. As Chairman since 1987, Martin remains at the heart of the award scheme each year receiving the nominations, personally visiting all of the projects, and chairing the judging panel.  Under Martin’s Chairmanship, the awards have grown in scope and now include education and schools projects, new buildings, landscape improvements, and restoration projects as well as, conservation schemes.

4. The six volunteers from CPRE East Hampshire District Group are: Margaret Paren, Minette Palmer, Christopher Napier, John Venning, Stephen Harwood and Terry Smith.

Campaign for the South Downs: In October 1999, the Government announced its intention to designate a National Park in the South Downs.  Under the leadership of Margaret Paren, of CPRE East Hampshire District Group, the volunteers formed the nucleus of a wider group of volunteers drawn from CPRE Hampshire and CPRE Sussex. These in turn formed part of the South Downs Campaign, a network that now has over 150 national, regional and local organisations including the South Downs Society and the Ramblers Association.  When a significant part of the Western Weald in Hampshire was omitted from the Area of Search for a new National Park, under the leadership of CPRE Hampshire the volunteers provided the evidence that led the Countryside Agency to include the whole of the East Hampshire AONB and some other areas of land within the designated South Downs National Park.  The group then coordinated the production of evidence on behalf of CPRE and the wider South Downs Campaign to the first Public Inquiry, providing support to parish and town councils who sought inclusion in the Park.

In July 2007, when it was proposed to omit part of the Western Weald in East Hampshire and West Sussex (amounting to 25% of the designated National Park), the volunteers took immediate action as part of the South Downs Campaign, and with other groups, in mobilising support from Hampshire MPs, Hampshire County Council, East Hampshire District Council and some 25 parish and town councils in Hampshire and Sussex as well as the public at large.  They spoke at seminars, to the media, helped to arrange demonstrations and promoted petitions.  With support from CPRE’s national office staff and the charity’s president, Bill Bryson, and other celebrities, the volunteers have tenaciously and consistently fought a strong campaign to create a sustainable National Park in the South Downs and for the omitted area to be restored. 

The submission of evidence to the re-opened Inquiry, from February to June 2008, involved coordinating the contributions of some 30 witnesses, which ensured that no shred of evidence was unheard.  In total, the South Downs Campaign presented 80 documents to the re-opened inquiry, the majority of which related to the Western Weald, many of which were led or coordinated by CPRE Hampshire. This was an immense amount of work, and classic campaigning of the highest quality.