Team Wilder Story Newtown Nature Club BS2

In Summer, 2021, Hemlata felt ready to set up Newtown Nature Club – she had invited locals to attend her free nature club, aimed at children with their parents to meet every Sunday to carry out wildlife friendly activities. Lockdown restrictions were easing, plus the location of the club was in their local park, surrounded by glorious nature.

The Pant family had not lived in the area for long and lockdown had stopped opportunities to meet local residents. Their previous family home did not have a garden – so lockdown was an opportunity to work on their new garden – adding soil, planting seeds and plants, working together outside. The Nature Club was a natural progression to combine meeting the community through a shared love of nature.

Shanti, Hemlata’s mother is from Nepal and grew up on farmland, where she learned many gardening skills. By teaching Hemlata some of these gardening techniques, important intergenerational skills and connections to their routes are shared and passed on.

Hemlata would have been socialising in person with her friends, but instead they talked online like most people had to. Her group of friends were involved in Action for Conservation. They attended meetings, which struck a chord with their values and what was important. They all wanted to do something positive about the climate crisis, so they wrote articles, reflected on current issues and came together.

The underlying message Hemlata learned from the group was to:

• Foster a good environment to continue climate action
• Involve people locally (not teach)
• Play organically (not forced agenda)
• Celebrate and reward positive actions for the climate

• Fear that no-one would turn up
• Rain stopping the outdoor sessions and again stopping people turning up