Celebrating our 15th year

We wanted to plan a special year for our 15^th anniversary.  After all, this Partnership has a lot to be proud of in just 15 years.  So we decided to hold or participate in 15 events throughout our 15^th year.  Many of the events involved the Bogtastic Van, and one even involved a police security screening of sphagnum moss!

Our 15 for 15 celebrations kicked off in February with the launch of the Bogtastic Van at Moors for the Future Partnership headquarters in Edale.  The children of Edale primary school were some of the first ever people to step foot in the van, as High Peak MP Ruth George and folk singer Bella Hardy looked on. Many of our partners also came along to glimpse a look at the van’s interesting interior.  It was a great way to start the 15 celebrations as partners came together to mark the special occasion.  

We followed up in March by showcasing the fantastic partnership effort it took to undertake the first Peak District breeding bird survey in 14 years.  The survey was made possible by working with landowners who showed enthusiasm for the project.

In Spring we produced a double bill of wildfire webinars showcasing the work of industry experts and their research into wildfires and the partnership efforts to reduce them.

Over the summer we celebrated Natura 2000 day and International Bog day with partner events, as well as the Kinder Barrel race.  

In September we decided that the House of Commons really needed some sphagnum moss on its premises, and in what may be the first ever clump of sphagnum moss getting through the tight security of the House of Commons, we held a reception in the beautiful Members Dining Room.  The reception was funded by Severn Trent Water and set out our plan to build on the achievements of the past 15 years, by using the Price Review Process (PR19) to raise awareness and support for blanket bog conservation.

The Bogtastic Van made several outings as part of the celebrations including to Haworth for the 200^th birthday of Emily Bronte, to National Trust Longshaw for a talk on the use of sphagnum moss in the Great War, and to Fairholmes for the annual Dambusters run where a partnership team of runners raised money in aid of Mend our Mountains.

We highlighted the 125th anniversary of the Cowburn Tunnel which passes under Kinder Scout between Edale and Chinley, directly below one of the sites of our work.  And we celebrated new beginnings with the first Edale Junior Rangers day.  And we were delighted to support the production of a new film, the Carbon Farmer, a new film which paints a bright future for UK Peatland conservation, agriculture and climate action.

The Heritage Lottery Funded part of the Community Science Project came to an end in December and to celebrate we produced a podcast commemorating the staff and volunteers who made the project what it is.  The podcast is available to listen to here.

All of the celebrations have been great fun, but they have had a serious side too. They all aimed to raise awareness of the importance of blanket bogs and to demonstrate how blanket bog conservation can only be achieved through successful partnership working.