03 Sep PENNIES MAKE PATHS!
Cotswold Outdoor chooses our It’s Up to Us campaign to save mountain paths as the focus of their Pennies scheme in Scotland.
Mountaineering Scotland and the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (OATS) are excited to announce that the It’s Up to Us (IUTU) campaign will be the focus of the Pennies scheme in Cotswold Outdoor, Runners Need and Snow+Rock stores, launched at the start of September and running until the end of the year.
Now in its second year, It’s Up to Us is a three-year campaign to raise £300,000 for much-needed path repairs on An Teallach, one of Scotland’s most iconic mountains. With the launch of the Pennies scheme, each time you shop at a Cotswold Outdoor, Runners Need or Snow+Rock store in Scotland you’ll have the chance to round-up and donate as little as one penny at the checkout to support the It’s Up to Us campaign. Collectively, these small donations really do add up…just £5 could pay for gloves and eye protection for volunteers and contractors, while £100 could build one metre of gravel path.
CEO of the Outdoor Access Trust Scotland, Dougie Baird, said: ‘’It is fantastic that Cotswold Outdoor have chosen to support the Its Up To Us An Teallach appeal as the focus of their Pennies initiative.
“All of us who love the outdoors understand the need for good kit on the hill, and it is really good to know a little bit of each purchased piece of kit during the initiative will be going to help look after the mountains that so enrich our lives.’’
Lucy Sutton, Marketing Director, Cotswold Outdoors, Runners Need & Snow+Rock, said: ‘We are delighted to support ‘It’s Up to Us’ through Pennies, both raising awareness to our customers of the need to repair Scottish footpaths and investing in the repair and maintenance of these iconic mountains. The outdoors is our playground and we have to ensure that it’s there for generations to explore and discover their happy place.”
The initial stage of It’s Up to Us is focused on repairing 3.2km of badly eroded path on An Teallach, with contractors from Cairngorm Wilderness Contracts (CWC) having so far completed 340m of path building and maintenance work on the mountain, funded by the campaign and supported by a team of enthusiastic path maintenance volunteers. The campaign is also calling on the Government to help develop a sustainable funding model for building and maintenance work across Scotland’s upland path network to ensure it is kept fit for purpose for future generations to enjoy.
Visit: www.savemountainpaths.scot to find out more about the campaign and donate.
Don’t forget, you can follow all the latest campaign news using the hashtags:
#ItsUptoUs and #SaveMountainPaths
ENDS
Notes:
It’s Up to Us
It’s Up to Us is a joint campaign by Mountaineering Scotland and the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (OATS) to raise awareness of the desperate need for sustainable investment in the repair and maintenance of informal upland paths across Scotland, to protect the fragile mountain environment from the combination of increased footfall and the extremes of Scottish weather and ensure it can continue to be enjoyed by future generations. The three strands of It’s Up To Us:
- To highlight the need for sustainable investment into the repair and upkeep of Scotland’s upland path network, the valuable contribution paths make to our nation’s health and wellbeing, and the value of walking tourism to the Scottish economy and local communities throughout the country.
- The annual economic impact of walking tourism is £1.6 billion (VisitScotland estimate)
- A recent Upland Paths Audit suggested £30m is required for building and restoring over 400 km of the path network and at least £400,000/annum for maintenance
- To engage with Government, stakeholder agencies and organisations, businesses, individual and commercial users, private landowners, and all path users to develop a long-term, integrated, and sustainable funding model, improving access to investment into Scotland’s upland paths.
- Currently in Scotland, the limited funding for mountain path maintenance and habitat restoration is earmarked for paths on land in the two national parks or NGO estates.
- There is no public investment from the government to support path work on privately owned land not in the national parks or NGO estates
- Since Brexit access to European funding (an estimated £7m in recent years) has been lost with nothing to replace it.
- Fundraising for specific path restoration projects, to encourage all hill users, to give something back and demonstrate what can be achieved with the support of the mountain community. £300,000 is currently being raised for a project to repair 3.2km of badly eroded path on An Teallach, in the North West Highlands, one of Scotland’s most iconic mountains (a Site of Special Scientific Interest) in private ownership with no access to public funding.
Pennies
Pennies is an award-winning fintech charity with an important mission: to protect and grow micro-donations, ensuring people have digital ways to keep donating the small sums of money that are so vital to charities.
As a trusted leader in digital micro-donations, Pennies has created a movement that encourages giving, offers businesses a powerful way to demonstrate social purpose, helps charities make a greater impact, and gives the public a way to donate without cash, as part of their daily lives.
In an increasingly cashless society, Pennies’ ‘digital charity box’ gives customers paying by card or digital wallet a convenient way to add a small donation to their purchase, when shopping with participating retailers. Whether in-store, online or in-app, it’s a simple, affordable, data-free way to donate, with 100% of funds raised going to charity.
Millions of people are now using the digital charity box. To date, Pennies has enabled more than 100 million micro-donations, raising millions of pounds in much-needed additional income for charities in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Together, payment providers, retailers and their customers are helping hundreds of charities make a meaningful difference to the causes and communities they serve. Because micro-donations matter, now more than ever.
For more information about Pennies please visit: www.pennies.org.uk
Cotswold Outdoor
For almost 50 years, Cotswold Outdoor have been helping people discover the outdoors by offering expert advice on quality clothing, equipment and accessories from the best brands. With over 70 stores across the UK, their passionate and knowledgeable staff inspire customers to make the right choice through free in-store boot and rucksack fitting services. That’s matched by a genuine commitment to minimising their environmental impact by helping and encouraging people to buy quality kit that lasts, championing Recycle My Gear services that keeps kit out of landfill. Working together with Snow+Rock and Runners Need to help everyone feel happier outside, combining their passion, knowledge and expertise, to help you make the most of every outdoor adventure.
Web:: www.cotswoldoutdoor.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/CotswoldOutdoor | Twitter: www.twitter.com/CotswoldOutdoor / @CotswoldOutdoor | Instagram: www.instagram.com/cotswoldoutdoor / @cotswoldoutdoor | Strava: https://www.strava.com/clubs/1169182
For more information, please contact Emma Wilcox – Partnerships Manager [email protected]
Mountaineering Scotland
Mountaineering Scotland is the membership and representative organisation for hill walkers, climbers, mountaineers and ski tourers in Scotland, with a membership of over 16,000 individual and club members and 150 affiliated clubs.
Our aim is to inspire and encourage people to enjoy the benefits of walking, climbing and ski touring and provide guidance and skills training to mountain users to promote safety, self-reliance and responsible access in Scotland’s mountains and climbing venues.
Web: www.mountaineering.scot|Twitter: @Mountain_Scot
Facebook: @MountaineeringScotland | Instagram: @mountaineeringscotland
Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland
The Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (OATS) is a ground-breaking environmental charity. We promote sustainable access – developing, building and fixing upland and lowland paths, path networks, habitats and trailhead facilities, in popular, remote, and fragile places. We do this to support outdoors enthusiasts, land managers and local communities, and promote the health and wellbeing benefits of path use.
We are at the forefront of developing partnerships to finance conservation projects, collaborating with others to make Scotland’s outdoor access network fit for the future, and bringing people together to learn how to make places that matter better for all.
Web: www.outdooraccesstrustforscotland.org.uk | Twitter: @OATScot
Facebook: @OATScot | Instagram: @OATScot