Welsh Religious Buildings Trust

Conserving and promoting the religious built heritage of Wales.

Why set up the Trust?
The Welsh Religious Buildings Trust has been set up to address some of the serious problems facing our rich inheritance of religious buildings. Some of our prime historical assets will be protected for future generations in the hands of the Trust, whilst the Trust will also serve as a focal point for dealing with the many problems that face those responsible for caring for the built religious heritage of Wales.

Background
In May 1993 the Welsh Affairs Committee of the House of Commons recommended the setting up of a Redundant Churches and Chapels Fund for Wales. In 1994, a working party, sponsored by Cadw, was formed to review redundant historic chapels and their future. The resulting report, Redundant historic chapels in Wales (September 1996), recommended the setting up of a new body - an independent charitable trust - to hold redundant historic chapels of significance for future generations and be an advisory body and information source.

The Trust is now established to implement the recommendations of the1996 report, and funding for its setting up was provided by Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments. The Trust receives funding at present from a variety of sources including Cadw, the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Architectural Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust and other donations.

Aims and Objectives
The aim of the Trust is to promote and advance the religious and associated heritage of Wales by:
• acquiring redundant religious buildings of significance and ensuring their conservation to the highest standards
• providing advice and information to those owning or responsible for chapels and other historic religious buildings, and to other interested parties.

The Trust's remit covers buildings of all denominations and faiths, except for the Church in Wales, which has its own scheme in place with The Friends of Friendless Churches and Cadw.

Acquiring Buildings
The Trust seeks to acquire, as an owner of last resort, a limited number of redundant historic religious buildings. The scale of activities will be governed by three main factors:
• the number of buildings that fulfil the Trust's acquisition criteria
• the number of buildings offered to the Trust for acquisition
• the resources and funding available to the Trust

Initially, priority is to concentrate on achieving at least one successful acquisition and to identify further acquisitions. Buildings acquired by the Trust will be repaired and conserved, and will be open to visitors with a programme of appropriate activities drawn up, according to the type and location of the building. Local support for any held buildings is essential and active local committees or support groups will be formed.

Research and Information
Many of those owning or responsible for historic religious buildings in Wales have an urgent need for advice, information and help, whether the building is still in use as a place of worship or is being used for other purposes.
The Trust has therefore also been established with the intention of becoming an advisory body and a source of information to provide advice on funding, planning and conservation matters, and possible new uses for buildings. The Trust aims to provide the information service by developing and producing information developing links with other agencies and organisations active in this sector, complementing and extending their work, and will seek to create and develop networks and to exchange ideas. The exact level and type of service provided will depend on the resources secured by the Trust.

AA

Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales

We need your support - join us now The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales is a membership organisation open to everybody who cares about wildlife conservation and the protection of habitats in the area. Its aims are:
• To promote wildlife conservation in South and West Wales.
• To acquire land, where wildlife is at risk, and manage it as nature reserves.
• To increase public awareness and understanding of wildlife conservation and offer advice to farmers, local authorities and other landowners.
• To provide facilities to promote the enjoyment of wildlife on our reserves.

As well as the knowledge that their membership is helping to promote the protection of wildlife in their local area, members also receive 'Wildlife', the full colour magazine of the Wildlife Trusts of South Wales and 'Natural World' the UK wide magazine of the Wildlife Trusts. There is also the opportunity to participate in a wide range of Trust events and activities throughout the area.

We manage over 100 nature reserves across four counties, many of which are in Bridgend and the surrounding area. Our Bridgend office is at Parc Slip Nature Reserve, Tondu, Bridgend - come along for a visit.

Registered Charity No. 1091562

AA

Wildlife Trusts

The Wildlife Trusts partnership is the UK's leading conservation charity exclusively dedicated to wildlife. Working at both national and local level, we are a network of 46 independent wildlife charities and over 100 urban wildlife groups, and have a membership of 325,000 adults and 20,000 children.

The 10-point plan for The Wildlife Trusts:
• Biodiversity information - the collection and recording of biological data
• Managing land - management of more than 2,300 nature reserves in the UK, covering some 80,000 hectares, improving the quality of these sites for wildlife and people
• Agriculture - campaigning for greater incentives for wildlife friendly farming. Advising and assisting farmers at a local level
• Water and wetlands - priority to the conservation and restoration of wetlands, raising awareness of the importance of water
• Standing up for wildlife - campaigning hard at a local, regional, national and international level to protect the interest of wildlife
• Marine - through our Joint Marine Programme with WWF, we work towards better marine conservation, concentrating on the problems of pollution, over-fishing and by-catch
• Making biodiversity relevant to people - increasing the public's understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of wildlife and include children through Wildlife Watch and other programmes
• Focal habitats - focused efforts on 10 priority habitats from the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). For each habitat, The Wildlife Trusts set and implement targets and action plans
• Focal species - focus on more than 28 species for which we are a lead partner under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP)
• Biodiversity Action Planning process - The Wildlife Trusts have played an integral part in the process of developing Biodiversity Action Plans with partners at every level

We continue to promote this process as a key mechanism for achieving biodiversity conservation through out the UK.

AA

Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

In the beginning.
WDCS was founded in 1987 by a few people with a shared concern for whales and dolphins all over the world. They realised that there was no individual group that focused solely on these marine mammals and felt that there was a need for such a group. As a result, WDCS works for the protection of all cetaceans and is one of only a few societies in the UK that do so.

WDCS Objectives:
• To reduce and ultimately eliminate the continuing threats to cetaceans and their habitats
• To raise awareness of cetaceans and educate people about the need to address the continuing threats to their welfare and survival

Policy:
• Campaigns and Science - works to stop captivity of cetaceans, commercial whaling, environmental pollution of the oceans and fisheries practices that harm whales and dolphins. The campaign's team deal with Governments, politicians, and liase with other environmental groups in the UK and all over the world that are working towards the same goal
• Conservation - funds conservationists and researchers all over the world directly involved in gathering information about whales and dolphins and their habitat to help us understand them and the threats that they face. WDCS is currently funding field projects in the UK (Scotland and West Wales), and as far a field as South America and Asia

WDCS today:
• WDCS has grown, with about 30 full-time staff employed in our UK, German and US offices. We now have over 60,000 supporters
• With three different membership schemes, you can now join and shop online
• We also have an inspiring website full of useful information about WDCS that is available at the touch of a button. We also have a free e-mail update service