Forfar charity receives funding boost courtesy of high school pupils

Murton Farm Nature Reserve, based near the town, was nominated for the funding by pupils Willow Heinowski and Carla McKenzie as part of the school’s participation in the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative Scotland project.

The school takes part each year, involving all second year pupils who must identify a social issue in their local area, a charity that supports that issue and then prepare and showcase a presentation to a judging panel, in a creative way. The students researched the charity and recently made their pitch to the judges.

Alison Elliott, Murton Trust manager, said: “Our community is always the focus of the work we do at Murton. We welcome over 100 young people each year to attend our programmes and it is incredibly rewarding to have young people acknowledge our charity and support us by securing this significant grant.”

The YPI is managed and principally funded by The Wood Foundation

Alex Reid, programme manager, said: “Over the last five years, nearly 600 young people from Webster’s High School have been responsible for granting £15,000 to local causes in Angus, which has had an enormous impact locally.

"This year, we are delighted to congratulate the winning students who were advocating for the Murton Trust, who enjoyed engaging with the charity through their visits and were very well supported by staff and volunteers during the process.

"The students worked hard to deliver a creative and engaging presentation on the work of the Trust to secure the £3000 grant on their behalf.

Willow said: “We picked Murton Trust because it is a place to have fun, be ourselves and connect with nature. Murton helps a lot with mental health and the environment which we thought was really important.”

Carla added: “When I visited Murton I realised how much it can help not only animals, but people too. That’s why I believe that Murton can make a difference.”