Saturday opinion
the UK, Hilary McGrady (left), says the threats presented by the climate crisis and the resultant surge in fires and floods, together with an overall decline in the natural environment, must be tackled.
Hilary, who’s from Northern Ireland, adds: “To restore nature and arrest climate change, we will need to start with people. We will need to connect more people with nature if we are to inspire them to want to care for it and, by linking up with nature, they can bolster their health and wellbeing.”
Heather McLachlan says the support that the National Trust has been receiving from the public in Northern Ireland is encouraging.
“In 2012, we had 60,000 members. At the end of this month, we will be celebrating having 100,000. Our visitor numbers are also on the up and we now have 2,500 volunteers helping us across the province.
“We really are going from strength to strength and we are also taking our message out to communities and finding out what people want to do on our sites.”
Heather admits that there’s more work to be done to encourage people to get out and explore the full range of places that the Trust are looking after.
“But one of the biggest things for us, compared to the National Trust across the water, is that, because we don’t have a ‘right to roam’ in Northern Ireland, access to the outside is limited,” explains Heather, who believes that encouraging families to visit the Trust’s attractions has been a major factor in increasing visitor numbers.
Trying to lure children away from their computers has been a major challenge.
“We have a campaign called 50 Things To Do Before You’re 11¬ and what we’re encouraging children to do is make a connection with the outdoors and nature by flying a kite, or climbing a tree — the things they don’t do when they’re sitting in front of an Xbox,” says Heather.
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