Wildlife expert running for Hauxley Fire Appeal

Jul 22 2010 by Richard Fletcher, The Journal

A WILDLIFE expert is taking on the Great North Run to help replace an important site destroyed by vandals.

Steve Scoffin, Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Druridge Bay development manager, will be running in this year’s event to raise money for the trust’s Hauxley Fire Appeal.

The wildlife charity’s Hauxley Visitor Centre was targeted by arsonists at the beginning of July and totally destroyed.

The visitor centre was open all year round and was very popular with bird watchers, tourists and residents of the area. The building was also used for education classes and by community groups such as the Astronomical Society.

It is estimated that more than 10,000 people visited the building each year. Five years’ worth of records of daily bird sightings by volunteers and other wildlife research were destroyed, while the building’s turf roof was also home to a number of nesting birds and their chicks. The £120,000 centre was built in 2001.

The trust now needs to raise an extra £100,000 to enable it to build a new and more robust building with linked facilities which will help people of all ages enjoy the wildlife of the Druridge Bay area.

Anybody wishing to sponsor Steve can log on at virginmoneygiving.co.uk and pledge their support.

This will be the seventh time Steve has taken part in the run. Last year he completed the 13.1 miles in 2 hr 18 min.