Dr. Margaret Bradshaw, renowned champion of Upper Teesdale’s rare plants for over sixty years, is set to start a new fundraising adventure.
Dr. Margaret Bradshaw, renowned champion of Upper Teesdale’s rare plants for over sixty years, is set to start a new fundraising adventure.
Now 95, she is undertaking a sponsored Trek for Teesdale Flora by riding 88km on a pony – the distance signifies the boundary distance of the River Tees catchment area, where many of the rarest plants are found. She hopes others will join her by undertaking their own 88km challenges on foot, bike or horseback.
The Trek for Teesdale Flora began on Friday 2 July, with a launch at 2.00 pm at The Moorcock Inn at Eggleston, near Margaret’s home. She will be riding Sigma, a 29-year-old Anglo-Arab, loaned by her friend and local ecologist Tricia Snaith, who will accompany her for the challenge. Tricia Explains:
“We’re aiming to complete a 8 km ride each week. I’ll be charting the rides so we can post regular progress updates to supporters.
Margaret founded her charity, the Teesdale Special Flora Research and Conservation Trust to conduct botanical surveys, raise awareness of the dale’s unique assemblage of plants, and trial methods of protecting the plants’ future. On the subject, she said:
Upper Teesdale is a treasure house of rare plants, many of which have survived since the last Ice Age. These species I have seen a decrease in the 50 years I have studied the rare flora. We need to keep recording what is happening to our flora and experiment with ways to halt the shocking level of decline. Professional surveying costs about £10 per 10m x 10m square. Every penny we raise will go towards protecting our wonderful heritage and I hope others will have a go and join me in this challenge.
Sponsorship for the Trek for Teesdale Flora can be paid into the Dr. M.E. Bradshaw’s Teesdale Special Flora Research & Conservation Trust’s Just Giving account: www.justgiving.com/campaign/teesdalespecialflora
About Dr Margaret Bradshaw MBE
Margaret grew up on a farm on the Yorkshire Wolds and gained an interest in botany at an early age. She now lives in Eggleston, in Upper Teesdale, drawn here in 1951 in search of Teesdale’s rare flora.
She was part of the Teesdale Defence Committee that opposed the building of the reservoir at Cow Green in the late 1960s and has been involved in research into the Teesdale special flora and an advocate for its conservation ever since. In 2017, conscious that several of the rare species were declining and frustrated by lack of effective action on their conservation, Margaret founded the Upper Teesdale Special Flora Research and Conservation Trust. This became a Charity in early 2020.