Our story
Starting in 2020 as a community-empowered group we focus on Woods, Water and Wildlife for our Well-being. Our upper River Welland clay catchment has always flooded, Market Harborough is the second most flood-risk town in Leicestershire with 2300 properties at risk, and has the lowest woodland cover in the Midlands and the second lowest (after Cambridgeshire) in the UK, (ref. Natural England and Forestry Research). It also has the lowest biodiversity in the Midlands (ref. Midlands Engine) and we are hindered by being on the border town of three County Council authorities.
We have:
- Planted nearly 50,000 free trees as woods and hedges in 3 Counties by spring 2025. We are helping to promote a regional self-help network and support our Northants sister group who is championing (www.moretreesnow.eco) events in the UK
- Our Greener Schools Group help 30 schools and we have delivered 27 presentations. This has created opportunities to build trusts leading to 15 natural flood management schemes (4 as live projects) and 4 free very large Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) ponds.
- Channelling the anger in our flooded community into positive action. Our trust building has helped start Harborough Town Hub CIC with it's 4 statutory Neighbourhood Forums in our town (unparished for 50 years) and our Harborough Flood Action Group sharing UK best practices regionally and as we now have tree, flood and river wardens where there were none. We build networks and trust through positive action and share through Facebook and WhatsApp. These include Harborough Woodland Community Volunteers (with sister groups in Northants and Rutland), Harborough Flood Action Group (regional), Friends of the River Welland, Natural Flood Management UK and Community Magic UK.
- Our dynamism and ambition comes from Community Magic, which is friends having fun doing something worthwhile. The name came from a head teacher who wanted to bottle his student's enthusiasm for planting 1500 trees in January rain and share it with all their classes and academy schools.
- We have won 2 national awards and 3 regional awards.
Our advice
- Make friends and learn from other champions across the UK as nothing happens without community champions and community landowners. Our friends in Calderdale, Pickering, Stoud and Cambridge have been invaluable. Help other groups and build a large self-help network.
- Your volunteers only do what motivates them when they can. Make it fun. Our volunteers say the 3 essential reasons in priority order why they are enthusiastic long-term supporters are: their well-being, education and love of nature. Encourage champions to make change happen.
- Be highly customer-focused and professional even though the work is free. (Design for approval, insurance, risk analysis, training, auditing etc) . Our farmers or community landowners are key members of our community. Nothing happens without trust and landowner approval. Many government agencies and charities do not know what a customer is. County Councils are the least trusted service providers in the UK (LCC). We audit all projects and go back and replace any losses for free. This creates more opportunities.
- Use social media openly, not as a cold website, to build networks and trust through sharing measurable achievements and positive action. Many specialists do not use open social media as they have their professional associations and conferences to share ideas so they are not engaging with the community. Share through tailored presentations to all interested (schools, wildlife, gardening, Rotary, WI, U3A etc).
- Keep it simple, safe and easy. Promote events on Facebook, Mailchimp and use free Ticketailor to sell free tickets. We now attract business whose staff volunteer as they have fun. Our core team include wildlife specialists, landscape architect, water resource engineer, teachers etc. Most have jobs and families to juggle.
- Build positive mutually respectful relationships with all Councils, Risk Management Authorities, Water Companies, River Trusts and other charities as they are overwhelmed and need your useful help and local knowledge. Ask and it will happen if you can help.
- We need very little funding but are very gratefully for a National Lottery grant.
- Regret wasting time with the Charity Commission as a very frustrating process. Beware all Councils as some prevent opportunities. Leicestershire CC Forestry are amazing. Many officers and members are brilliant. It's much easier to work with schools or farmers through friends of friends.
- Build community capacity as a regional skilled self-help network to fill the growing specialist capacity gap and help the overwhelmed Risk Management Authorities hindered by budgets, borders, out of date law, and a “Grenfell Tower” UK culture where no one is in charge. It’s our risk as climate chaos accelerates. If your community was a large industrial complex, such as a paper mill, what action would the technical director take to protect your community? You need to manage the risk as no one is looking at the whole picture.
Our metrics
The contagious enthusiasm, smiles, laughter and an obvious measurable achievement by helping elated community landowners.
Increasing recommendations through friends of friends through building rare trust. These enquiries are growing so fast we cannot cope so we have helped set up sister groups regionally.
Being taken seriously by national Government Agencies and overcoming their normal approach of informing communities almost as an afterthought.
