By Justine Willard, National MCS, 13th November 2013

The Sea Champions initiative has passed us by in the North West – until now! This program received funding for the South of England, Scotland and Wales, and has paid for a small number of coordinators to inspire a larger number of volunteers to engage in a range of marine conservation activities and fund raising events.

The initiative has created a number of online resources that are available at:
Sea Champions volunteer packs

Also importantly, Justine’s visit gave us a chance to talk about how we might leverage funding for a conservation officer in the North West, who could coordinate and inspire local activities. Most grant awards come with a requirement to get matching funding – but often a proportion of this can be ‘in kind’ rather than in cash. As a consequence, if you are engaged in volunteer work for the MCS, you can fill in an activity log, and we may be able to count your time against the matched funding requirement:
Sea Champions Activity Log Sheet (Word .DOC file 141kB).