Sainsbury’s down Snakey Path also offers free refreshments, as it tends to be around their area, which is the worst.

Volunteers with Roots & Shoots Cambridge have been as high as 15, which have made for fast work! Even on the most recent rainy day when there were less of us I was particularly proud of my members and their children who thoroughly enjoyed the use of their waterproof gear! Cherry Hinton Brook boasts a variety of Wildlife including resident Kingfishers and has been reported on BBC Cambridgeshire this year for discussion on water level and its effects on the wildlife.

This year we found a trophy and called it the Clean up trophy and “Presented” it to the children helping as a prize. We didn’t let them touch it without gloves of course and it was disposed of later. We also find safes every year, which we report to police.

Tiffany Wallace, Anglia Ruskin Roots & Shoots Team President

MONA is a Sanctuary in Spain which conserves primates through rehabilitation, education and preservation of their habitats. We hope to travel to MONA, Spain Summer 2012 to volunteer and work with MONA in primate conservation. Our fundraising event involves selling warm fair trade soup and rolls during the colder months to students on the run for a good price. Proceeds of this will go to MONA.

We are fortunate enough to have captured the attentions of film students in Cambridge and Cam FM who have asked us to do an interview. We hope to advertise our fundraising event, gain more support and help further understanding about what we at Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots do. We like to demonstrate our care and concern for humanity, animals and the environment. Luckily for us, Soup on the Run has proven a success in that it saves students money, serves them with healthy, Fairtrade food; and it helps the animals and their environment! We are very excited about it!

A group of us got together to review the current Eu Common fishing policies, and how we feel that it is failing. At the time it was to be reviewed in the Eu and they were requesting people who felt concerned to write in. Aspects of the policy were divided up between us and review, we came together to write the letter which was then sent in to be read.

Arran Trip

A joint field trip with the Chaplaincy; it takes place in early July, where we spend a week on the island of Arran. This year it rained, Sleeted and snowed but we still had a great time. Whilst on the island we spend many days on walks looking at some of the special sites on the island, like the stone circles as well as talking about why and how they could have been built. Great fun is also had identifying species of plants we encounter as well as spotting rare birds.

Film Screenings

Usually at the start of the new semester a film night is held to bring old and new members together, in the past we have shown Wall E and the 11th Hour. We then discuss the implications of the films and how true they could be.

Trips to the Cambridge Zoological museum, Botanical Gardens and Cambridge Herbarium

These are held throughout the year, we take members to these museums, in the case of the herbarium a topic is chosen and the family is looked at – with the other museums we look at exhibits and receive talks from curators.

• Soup on the run – a weekly event carried out at uni selling soup to students and staff to raise money for for charity. Guests came to talk to customers from council about recycling, from carbon foot print to calculate their foot prints, and Tara from JGI about their work to name a few.
• Visit to a landfill site – to look at excessive waste.
• Movie evenings (environmental movies – e.g. An Inconvenient Truth) with discussions afterwards
• Annual Arran island trip – Hiking, wildlife watching (red deer, seals, and red squirrels), and a trip to holy island and a chance to meditate with a Tibetan Buddhist monk.
• Trip to Italy and Solovenija to a wildlife reserve – activities included dolomites in the alps, caves in Solovenija, the Adriatic sea. Staying overnight in the Natural Reserve “Isola della Cona” (Best Italian Reserve for birdwatching 2007). Activities – hike on the Karst Plateau, day-trip to Slovenia to the Canzian caves, and horse riding.
• River Cam clean up – A day was spent cleaning up a section of the river Cam here is a list of items that were pulled out:
  • Several Lighters
  • 1x Bike seat
  • 1x Bike lock
  • 1x Bike light
  • Bag of butchers bones
  • 100+ carrier bags
  • 100+ crisp packets
  • Several Tobacco wrappers
  • Several Fast food/chips, etc. bags
  • Several McDonald’s drinking cups
  • Several Chinese/Indian etc. take away containers
  • 1x Dog ball
  • 2x Shoes
  • Several Chocolate bar wrappers
  • Several Sweet wrappers
  • 1x Bat
  • 1x Umbrella handle
  • 1x Syringe body + 5 needles
  • 3x Spray cans
  • 35+ plastic bottles
  • 40+ cans
  • 30+ glass bottles
  • 10+ Juice cartons
  • 1x Traffic cone
  • 1x Asda shopping trolley
  • 5x Money boxes
• Talk and book signing by Dr Jane Goodall – Jane came and did an hour long talk in our theatre at Anglia Ruskin on her work and the Chimps at Gombe, followed by a book signing, and a lunch with selected guests and the R&S committee.
• Talk by Will Travers (CEO of Born Free), held in conjunction with Cambridge University at the Scott Polar Research Institute, were he discussed the foundation, its past and his vision of the future.
• Annual Peace Day march – A fun day at Tower bridge were the peace dove is flown and money is raised for a selected charity, this year it was the Red Balloon Foundation, and over a hundred and pounds were raised and the public were wished a ” Happy Peace Day”.
• Regular botany identification trips to botanical garden – With the chaplain Nigel Cooper who is an ex biology teacher and botany expert. He shares his vast knowledge on plant Identification.
• Production of a recipe book called Recipes for Hope, to raise money for the rangers protecting the Gorillas in the D. R . C – the book was compiled with recipes donated by members of the society and also contained environmentally friendly cleaning tips and beautiful photos of the rangers at work. Was presented to Dr Jane when she visited our University in 2007.
• Money raised for numerous charities including Bug Life, Mona Chimpanzees rescue centre, The Jubilee Project and the JGI – these monies were raised at Soup On The Run and when Jane visited.
• Fisheries Consultation – A great opportunity to influence European fisheries policy. Currently there are predictions that global fish stocks will be exhausted by 2048. The EU has a chance to reverse this decline.We shall study the consultation and compare it with textbooks from the library to draft a simple response.

Anglia Ruskin’s R&S group was set up in 2005 by Esperanza, Juan and Ngaio and worked closely with the University of Cambridge group. I was attracted to Roots & Shoots in 2006 when I started university to do my degree in Animal behaviour, ecology and conservation. I was looking to increase my knowledge and experience in the conservation field as well as making friends and doing something I enjoyed. My first love in life has and always will be animals and conservation. Being part of Roots & Shoots has enabled me to be part of a global phenomenon and to do practical hands on conservation work. We as a group under took many fundraising projects including producing a recipe book in aid of the rangers protecting the Gorillas in the Congo, and selling soup to raise funds for the homeless in Cambridge. Practical hands on work carried out by the group included river Cam clean up days, drafting a response to the fisheries consultation to influence European fisheries policy, and an annual peace day march. Being part of this influential group of young people world wide has enabled me to meet new friends with similar interests and beliefs and given me the opportunity to meet Dr Jane on a couple of occasions. Hearing Dr Jane give her inspirational speeches has cemented my desire to work in the field of conservation and to make a difference in the world.

– Jackie Dullaghan

You can see where Anglia Ruskin University is on a map and read about their local environment here.