Chris Myers supports our campaign to save hay meadows

April 22, 2013

Last Wednesday YDMT, with the help of TV presenter and Garden Designer Chris Myers, launched the Hay Time appeal in a bid to save one of the most iconic and threatened habitats in Britain – wildflower hay meadows.

Channel 4’s Chris Myers joins pupils from Christ Church Primary School to help us launch an appeal to save threatened hay meadows in the Dales.

You may have already heard about the work we’ve done to restore hay meadows in the Yorkshire Dales and other areas like the Forest of Bowland. With the help of local farmers we’ve made significant progress, adding locally harvested wildflower seeds to 300 hectares of degraded meadows.

Funding for this vital work will soon run out, and much more still needs to be done to protect the remaining species-rich hay meadows before it’s too late. 

The Hay Time appeal aims to raise £150,000 to fund a three year campaign to safeguard meadows in the Yorkshire Dales and the Forest of Bowland, to restore their botanical diversity and to raise awareness about the importance of this precious habitat.

Last Wednesday was our big launch. Garden Designer Chris Myers, who you may recognise from the Channel 4 series Wild Things, kindly lent his support for the appeal by speaking at the event, posing for countless photos, giving press interviews, and patiently following the direction of Dave our cameraman to achieve the perfect ‘piece to camera’! … THANK YOU Chris!

YDMT’s Hay Time Project Manager Don Gamble chats to Chris Myers about the importance of hay meadows

Talking about his passion for hay meadows in the Dales, Chris said:

Having spent the last few years giving the nation a taste of Yorkshire through my exhibition show gardens, I came to realise how lucky I am to have inspirational wildflower hay meadows on my doorstep here in the Yorkshire Dales. Making a donation to the Hay Time Appeal will enable YDMT to protect and restore these beautiful and iconic meadows in the Dales which are home to rare species of flower like wood crane’s-bill and endangered animals like the moss carder bumblebee.

We’re also very grateful to the many supporters, business partners and members of the press who came to the event, and have supported the appeal. Not to mention pupils from Christ Church Primary School in Skipton, who enthusiastically demonstrated some of the educational activities we run through the project.

It costs as little as £1,000 to restore a meadow and protect the hundreds of species of wildlife it supports. Even a small donation to the Hay Time Appeal can make a big difference to the future of our meadows. Please donate now by visiting www.ydmt.org/haytimeappeal, or call us on 015242 51002.

Thank you

Wood crane’s bill – one of the many endangered species of wildflower found in hay meadows in the Dales.