News

Winter events with Whitley Fund for Nature

This winter we have been lucky enough to meet many of you in person again, at a series of events. We have loved reconnecting with you all: our incredible family of WFN supporters.

At London’s Savile Club, HRH The Princess Royal hosted a very special evening for our supporters. Since becoming WFN’s Patron in 1999, Her Royal Highness has never missed a Whitley Awards Ceremony; having joined us virtually for the past two years during the pandemic, it was an honour to be back together in person, celebrating the end of a busy year for the charity.

At all of our winter events we have been grateful for attendees’ unfaltering commitment to providing negative lateral flow tests on arrival, allowing everyone to remain safe.

This December we have also launched WFN NextGen: a new way we will help to catalyse the next generation of fundraisers.

Steered by an international, multi-sector, youth committee, WFN NextGen will offer everyone the opportunity to help raise vital funds through sporting challenges, arts events or comedy nights, channelling the energy and enthusiasm of young people into tangible change for nature conservation.

Thank you to our WFN NextGen official events partner, Urban Greens, for hosting the launch as well as to Endangered Brewing for supplying us with drinks.

Finally, we were thrilled to bring together the Friends of WFN to share a meal and (virtual) conversation with Whitley Award winner, Munir Virani. Dialling in alongside his team from Kenya, Munir spoke about transforming vultures from victims – often the collateral damage when farmers poison carnivore carcasses in retaliation for livestock losses – into beacons of hope, reflecting the success that local leaders have had in mitigating human-wildlife conflict.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this special series of events; they have made for the best possible end to the WFN year.