This year, Riverside Caravan Park has applied to take part in the David Bellamy Conservation Award scheme. The scheme assesses how we do our bit for the environment. How we look after wildlife and provide habitats for them, waste management, recycle and conserve energy and water along with other environmental factors. You can keep up with our efforts and progress by following us on Instagram and joining our Facebook group, Riverside Caravan Park, Llandre.
The best conservation and environmental projects are when, not only the business, but its’ customers join in to achieve great things together. Whether it be fund raising, gardening or simply picking up a piece of litter, this fosters a community spirit amongst the holiday homeowners and visitors. It brings owners on board by acknowledging the importance of the issue and the importance of their involvement. Whilst we were completing our self-assessment and drawing up a plan of action, one young man came to my mind.
Toby’s family have a caravan on Searivers. He spends hours each day riding around on his bike which is equipped with a trailer, collecting recycling from neighbouring caravans and taking it to our park’s recycling point. He picks up litter and take bottles to the glass bins, tooting his horn as he goes.
His Mum said “Toby loves helping out around the Searivers site, not only is he doing a productive and practical job but also he is interacting with different people on a regular basis, which can be tricky for someone like Toby as he has autism and yet he really enjoys this role which is great. Having a caravan on Searivers has been fantastic for Toby; both his independence and confidence have increased immensely.”
Environmental issues are at the forefront of our lives these days and you can’t go far without reading or hearing about them. We often talk about what the world will be like for the next generation, Toby’s generation. Look at Toby, quietly going about his business, doing his bit for the environment and making a difference in his own small, but vitally important, way. Earlier this year, 16-year-old schoolgirl Greta Thunberg inspired children to walk out of school in a protest against climate change. What started as a lone mission with Greta quietly protesting outside the Swedish Parliament grew into an international movement involving children across the globe and invitations for Greta to address the UN and the World Economic Forum.
Children today have a voice. We no longer have the view that “children must be seen and not heard”, children will speak up if they don’t agree with something. Both my children, at 22 and 10 years old, do this and it’s infuriating! They make their voices heard, not always in an appropriate way in the case of the 10-year-old, but it’s for us to educate not silence them. They are accepting of others and don’t judge based on gender, race, sexuality or disability. My own son is a similar age to Toby and shows so much compassion; he will look out for the child in his class who has a disability, he befriended the new boy from Syria who didn’t speak English (or Welsh) and was googling phrases at home so that he could speak to him. You can feel his sadness when we pass a homeless person on the street. We are incredibly lucky to live in a beautiful area of the world, next door to Ynyslas Nature Reserve and he is being brought up caring about the environment, the natural habitats of the wildlife here and understanding the importance and the beauty of the sea and how they are affected by environmental issues. Simply put, these kids care.
Toby cares. He has been brought up in an environment where the family come away on holiday and spend hours collecting rubbish from the beach, trudging home with buckets full for Toby then to sort and recycle what he can. I often worry for the future and wonder what the world will be like for our children as they grow up but maybe, just maybe, with kids like Toby around, the world will not be such a bad place after all.
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