We were delighted to have our ‘Community Art in Nature’ project chosen for funding by the Tesco Stronger Starts grant programme. Helping to produce a piece of artwork celebrating some of the region’s most precious wildlife is a brilliant way to engage young people with conservation and empower them to be involved with positive changes in their local community. There’s also growing evidence of the benefit on wellbeing of spending time in nature.

One of three shortlisted projects, it will be granted either £500, £1,000 or £1,500, depending on how many votes it receives from shoppers at the Welshpool store. Customers can vote by placing any blue tokens they receive for making in-store purchases into the ‘Community Art in Nature’ token bin at the front of the store. Voting will be open until 31^st March 2024.

Then in spring 2024, our Wild Skills Wild Spaces team will be looking for young people aged 11-17 years old to work on the mural in a series of workshops which will take place during the summer. Participants in the workshops will be invited to talk about nature and wildlife, and what impact it has on their wellbeing, in an informal setting.

The large, outdoor artwork will be created in a street-style, using spray paints, by the young participants under the guidance of local artist Valentine Kuhl. Depicting locally significant species, such as magnificent bird of prey the Osprey and the increasingly threatened Pearl-bordered Fritillary butterfly, for which the Welshpool area is a stronghold, the finished mural will be a celebration of wildlife, while shining a light on the state of our nature and the importance of conserving it.

The mural will encourage young people to take an interest in wildlife and leave their mark on their local nature reserve, whilst creating a beautiful design that can be enjoyed by visitors for years to come.

Tesco Stronger Starts is a new £5 million grants programme, in partnership with Groundwork UK, designed to give children in the UK a stronger start in life.

· If you’d like to support Wild Skills Wild Spaces’ ‘Community Art in Nature’ project, you can vote for us in Tesco Superstore on Mill Lane, Welshpool. When you are given a blue token at the checkout, just put this in the appropriate container at the front of the store before 31^st March 2024.

· Alternatively, if you know a young person aged 11-17 years old who would like to be involved in creating the mural, email: ecotherapy@montwt.co.uk