In the frame: Watershed Landscape artists in residence, from left, Andrew McMillan, Char March, Angie Rogers, Sally Barker and Simon Warner. Photo: Steve Morgan
A project that has helped restore footpaths and provide a mountain bike trail in the Pennine uplands is in the frame for a prize.
The Watershed Landscape Project is one of just 10 such schemes vying for top place in the environment section of the National Lottery Awards.
The project, managed by regeneration organisation Pennine Prospects, has used its Lottery funding to improve or construct visitor facilities including car parks and a mountain bike trail.
Since 2009 the Watershed Landscape Project has restored fields, dry-stone walls and footpaths, worked with volunteers and brought the story of the South Pennines to schoolchildren.
Dozens of people have also taken part in a number of geology workshops to discover the hidden secrets of the area and more than 1,700 pupils from 36 schools have taken part in landscape-based activities from poetry writing to geocaching.
Pam Warhurst, chair of Pennine Prospects, said: “Volunteers are at the core of this project: guiding, inspiring and carrying out landscape restoration so winning an award would recognise their toil and passion for the uplands at the highest level.”
The winning project in each category will receive national recognition on a BBC 1 show in early November and, in addition to the Lottery funding they have already received, will receive a £2,000 cash prize to spend on their project.
Another scheme in the Watershed Landscape Project saw the restoration and maintenance of more than 181 South Pennines meadows as part of the twite recovery project; an initiative to ensure the twite, also known as the Pennine finch, increases its population numbers as there are only 100 pairs left in England.
And a volunteer-led venture, the Carved Stones Investigation Project recorded and helped conserve the prehistoric rock art of Rombalds Moor in West Yorkshire.
Possibly dating back more than 4,000 years the markings are thought have been made by the same people who started farming and altered the landscape and changed the South Pennine landscape forever.
Using a mixture of new and old technology to create 3-D imagery; the volunteers themselves have developed ground-breaking techniques that will be rolled out nationally.
Voting for the finals has already started and will end at midnight on Sunday 22 July. The public can vote for their favourite project on the National Lottery Good Causes website.
