Sleaford Town Awards 2019 - nominees for the Environment Award

We continue to profile shortlisted nominees for Sleaford Town Awards in the run up to the ceremony on April 25.
One of the mud hare sculptures by Hare Aware. EMN-190324-152313001One of the mud hare sculptures by Hare Aware. EMN-190324-152313001
One of the mud hare sculptures by Hare Aware. EMN-190324-152313001

The event will be at Sleaford Town Hall, honouring your unsung local heroes in a partnership between Sleaford Town Council and the Sleaford Standard.

We have three shortlisted for our Environment Award.

Firstly we name the small team of artists responsible for the Hare Aware campaign, designed to highlight falling numbers of hares locally due to illegal hare coursing.

Mel Stanley of Sleaford Be Litter Free. EMN-190324-152134001Mel Stanley of Sleaford Be Litter Free. EMN-190324-152134001
Mel Stanley of Sleaford Be Litter Free. EMN-190324-152134001

The group began strategically placing clay sculptures of hares in 2017, around the town. This led to mud hare bell making workshops at craft fairs,chalk painted silhouettes on pavements, a ‘ghost hare’ and wooden painted cut outs in picture frames on railings to keep raise the issue.

The artists remain anonymous, but a spokesman said: “There are four of us who run Hare Aware now. We have a plan for a big 30 running hare exhibit which we will be putting out around the town at the end of April. It will then move locations and hopefully entertain a new area.”

They also have a series of workshops coming up.

Our second nominee launched a Facebook campaign a year ago to encourage the community to make the town litter free.

Ava Newell, Charlie and Stevie Scott, eco-committee members at Kesteven and Sleaford High School. EMN-190326-093520001Ava Newell, Charlie and Stevie Scott, eco-committee members at Kesteven and Sleaford High School. EMN-190326-093520001
Ava Newell, Charlie and Stevie Scott, eco-committee members at Kesteven and Sleaford High School. EMN-190326-093520001

Sleaford Be Litter Free was set up by Mel and Bob Stanley after moving to the area and finding the Sleaford Castle site a magnet for rubbish.

The couple set about clearing the site, removing many bags of litter, moving on to tackle other areas and this developed to applying for funding to get a specially equipped team to clean the embankment at Galley Hill and an ongoing project to repaint cast iron street names. They have been supported by the Town Council and Paul Dunham window cleaning service.

Mel said: “We have picked up tons of litter. It has inspired others to do so too. Everywhere is looking so much better.”

Our other shortlisted nomination for the Environment Award category in Sleaford Town Awards are the Year 10 pupils of the Kesteven and Sleaford High School Student Council Eco Committee.

They are named as Charlie and Stevie Scott and Ava Newell.

The nomination states that Charlie, Stevie and Ava have been invaluable members of the School Council and have been leading on eco-projects throughout their time at the school, including working alongside Sleaford in Bloom as eco-ambassadors.

They have made tangible contributions to improving the school environment and reducing the environmental impact that the school has as a community.

Among other things, this has included the introduction of recycling bins, as well as looking at how pupils and staff can encourage different bird species into the school by the placing of bird feeders and houses.

They are also exploring options to create a ‘Terracycling’ project in school to tackle hard to recycle waste products.

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