Update: Competition now closed.
WIN a National Trust Gift Voucher

September 23, 2021
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Competition winners will be notified by email.

For a chance to win a National Trust Gift Voucher, vote for the person who you think is doing a heroic job to help nature thrive in Northern Ireland. There are 10 candidates to choose from. Pick one by voting before midnight on Thursday 7 October 2021.

How to enter

You’ll find the selection of candidates below (please scroll down) and you can cast your vote there too. If you provide an email address when you vote, you’ll automatically be entered into the draw to win a £25 National Trust Gift Voucher. That’s so we can email the gift voucher to you if you win.

The three candidates who get the most votes will win one of the following prizes:

Gold prize is a £150 National Trust Gift Voucher (most votes)
Silver prize is £100 National Trust Gift Voucher (second most votes)
Bronze prize is £50 National Trust Gift Voucher (third most votes)

All winners will receive their National Trust Gift Vouchers in October 2021 via email.

Please read the terms and conditions below before you vote.

Stephen Malcomson

I used the forest expansion scheme to plant 24,000 native trees. I also created 2 new ponds to encourage wildlife and sowed a new wildflower meadow.

Lil Cairns-Kennedy

I have used old kids paddling pools to create 2 wildlife ponds. I dug a hole, fitted the punctured paddling pools, and let them fill naturally with rainwater. The pond supports frogs, dragonflies, and ferns. All of this in the middle of a housing estate!

Aine Kivlehan

Aine and her son John have been participating in the I Can Grow Project at Acorn Farm. They have embraced growing together; reusing old wiring and containers to nurture their very own fruit and vegetables and taking great care of the seeds in the raised bed. John really loves checking on the veg and watering the plants and I’ve enjoyed getting some tips from the horticulturalist which I’ve passed onto friends. It’s lovely being able to lift something from your back garden and bring it into the kitchen to cook for dinner.

Connie Dempster

During the first lockdown I took on an alloment with my mother and my 2 boys aged 3 and 5 as we did not have a garden. Along with fruit and vegetables we decided as a family to make a wild flower garden due to the reduction of Bees and Butterflies to the Larne Area with the bad weather in May.

Louise Cahoon

I’ve taught my 4 year old the importance of nature’s creatures. We give them safe warm places to live in the garden undisturbed. We have a bat colony and we also have hedgehogs, pheasants ect. We had two injured animals this year. We rescued a bat from a cat and took it to the ni bat association. It will be returned in spring to its colony, The Hedgehog had been a victim to a dog attack to the rehabilitation centre. Both only survived the hedgehog will have to remain in the rehab centre.

Darlene Moody

I grew this sunflower to over 10ft high. I have others that are around the 9ft. I also do litter picking in my home town of Castlerock which has been very busy this summer.

Eleanor Wilson

I grow flowers every year to encourage Bees and Butterflies. This year I grew my first wild flowers. As a result, the Bees and butterflies that visit my garden have multiplied this year. I also grow lavender, fragranced Roses and sweet pea.

Joanne Trainor

For my daughter Katie’s technology class – during remote learning – the class were given the task of making bird feeders. The feeder was made up of old plastic screwtop jars, wire coathanger and old paintbrushes. So simple to make and we loved watching the birds visit it for feeding.

Linda Silcock

My boys have been making bird boxes and making their own bird feeders to attract different species into the garden. We hope to have a pair of doves nesting next year.

Helga Sneddon

I created 2 wildlife ponds (a shallower one and a deeper one) all planted with native plants.

I also started an apiary with 3 hives and 2 nucs of native Irish black bees. To help the bees, I planted 40 pollinator friendly native trees and 10 fruit trees. I created an area with lots of different native wildflowers, which I’m currently harvesting the seed from and sharing with other people.

How we chose the 10 candidates

If you’re wondering how MyNI chose the 10 inspiring candidates that you can vote for, this is what we did:

in September 2021 we ran a competition to win Balmoral Show tickets
to enter this prize draw, the public were asked to show us how they’re helping nature to thrive in Northern Ireland by sending in a photo/ video and a short description. We welcomed small or big actions because they’re all helping Nature to recover
we had a great response and were so impressed with how people are changing their ways to help Nature thrive. To us, they’re all ‘climate heroes’!
from over 50 entries, our editorial board selected 10 stories that are now published on the MyNI website. Vote for your favourite story and stand of chance of winning a £25 National Trust Gift Voucher

Terms and conditions

It’s for people who live in Northern Ireland only.
You can only vote once.
Competition closes at midnight on Thursday 7 October 2021.
For a chance to win the £25 National Trust Gift Voucher, you’ll need to provide an email address so we can email the gift voucher to you if you win.
The personal info you provide will not be used for any other purposes and your data will deleted after the competition in 2021. Please also read the MYNI Privacy Policy.
The person who wins the £25 National Trust Gift Voucher will be selected by a random number generator.
A public vote will decide who wins the National Trust Gift Vouchers worth £150, £100 and £50. So the candidate with the most votes wins £150 voucher. The candidate with the second most votes gets the £100 voucher and so on.
All National Trust Gift Vouchers will be emailed to the winners in October 2021.
Our Address: MYNI | Dundonald House | Room 145 | Dundonald House | Upper Newtownards Road | Belfast | BT4 3SB.
Terms and conditions apply.

Update: Competition now closed.
WIN a National Trust Gift Voucher