Where does our money come from?
 The Friends of Troopers Hill fund their activities from a variety of sources. The most important contribution is from our members, who have given many hours of their time to ensure that The Friends of Troopers Hill have become one of the most successful groups in Bristol in a relatively short time.
Over 1,500 volunteer hours have have been recorded at Work Parties but many more hours have been spent by volunteers helping at events (we can now put up gazebos in any weather!); delivering Newsletters; attending meetings; building this website and carrying out general administrative tasks. As well as time, a lot of paper, printer ink and stamps have been donated - our thanks to everyone.
However, we could not have achieved all that we have without some hard cash. Details of the grants and donations we have received are given below, with some notes on how the money has been spent.
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Public and Commercial Services Union - October 2009
In October 2009 Friends of Troopers Hill was presented with a cheque for £50 from the Public and Commercial Services Union (see photo at the top of this page). Many thanks to Helen who applied for a grant which is for Friends of Troopers Hill to spend on craft materials for us to use at our events. It will help a lot of kids and adults be creative on Troopers Hill.
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Beeses Beer Festival September 2009
 For the third year running Friends of Troopers Hill have received an extremely generous donation from Beeses Riverside Bar & Tea Gardens who again donated money from the ticket sales at their beer festival, this year's donation was over £500. Beeses also donated the same sum to Friends of Eastwood Farm. In addition they have given us smaller donations throughout 2009 from raffles and other events.
This donation will allow us to put on more free events in 2010 - keep an eye on this websitre for details.
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St George Neighbourhood Partnership - Autumn 2009
 The St George Neighbourhood Partnership donated £520 from their 'Wellbeing fund' for an additional dog bin.
Our YANSEC grant included money for relocating the dog bin at the Greendown entrance so we were able to combine these two grants in 'The dance of the dog bins' described in the Autumn 09 edition of The Hill.
The end result was a new dog bin at Greendown; an additional bin at the next entrance down Troopers Hill Rd and a large bin on The Field.
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NHS Bristol - Summer 2008 & 2009
 Our Tai Chi sessions on Troopers Hill Field in both 2008 and 2009 were funded by grants from NHS Bristol. The grants were given in recognition of the value of Tai Chi for improving balance and core stability particularly for older people. The session were run by the Bristol School of Tai Chi.
You can see details and photos via the links below:
Tai Chi Summer 2008
Tai Chi Summer 2009
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Friends of Troopers Hill Education Fund - Summer 2008
 Friends of Troopers Hill received two significant donations during 2008. The first donation was over £600 from the funds held by the Dundridge Park Group when it was wound up at the end of 2007. While we were sorry that this group was unable to continue we are pleased to have the opportunity to ensure that the money continues to benefit local residents. Information about Dundridge Park can be found here.
The second donation was from Beeses Riverside Bar & Tea Gardens who again donated money from the ticket sales at their beer festival, this donation was over £300.
After some discussion Friends of Troopers Hill decided that the best use of this money was to form an 'Education Fund'. This fund will be used to enable us to hold events to inform both adults and children about the wildlife and history of Troopers Hill. This is one of the key aims of Friends of Troopers Hill. Prior to September 2008 this type of event had been run as part of the Wildspace! and Nature in the City Projects and had been very popular. We are very pleased that these donations have enabled us to continue with this aspect of our work.
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YANSEC Grant - February 2008
 We are very pleased to have received our second grant award from YANSEC (Yanley and North Somerset Environment Company), which is substantially funded by Viridor Credits. This grant was for a project with a total cost of £21,500 of which Bristol Parks contributed 10% in third party match funding.
Most of this money went towards improvents to the Greendown entrance to implement the design produced with our Awards for All grant described below. We were also delighted to be able to replace the benches that were installed with the earlier YANSEC grant in 2006. Part of the grant also funded three new entrance signs.
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Nature in the City Project - September 2006 to September 2008
In 2006 Bristol Parks secured funding for an exciting new project under the heading of Nature in the City. This was led by Sally Oldfield and allowed her to continue the work started with the Wildspace! Project over the preceeding four years. Nature in the City funded the majority of events held on Troopers Hill and other Local Nature Reserves over this period.
It was with great sadness that we heard at the begining of October 2008 that Sally was to leave her post. While the Nature in the City Project was always planned to finish at this time, funding for her post was in place until March 2009. Unfortunately with funding only guaranteed for these six months the post could not be filled. Sally has moved to a new role working on LNRs in Islington which is near to where her boyfriend, Richard, lives. After travelling to Bristol every weekend for 6 years, he has finally managed to persuade her to move over there. Islington's gain is sadly Bristol's loss.
As Bristol Parks Local Nature Reserves Officer running these two projects Sally was responsible for getting Friends of Troopers Hill started and was very supportive of the group. There is no doubt that without her Friends of Troopers Hill would not exist; Troopers Hill would not have a Green Flag and it would not be so well maintained by Bristol Parks - she will be very much missed. I'm sure you will join with us in wishing her the very best for the future. To mark five years of Friends of Troopers Hill and as a big thank you to Sally we presented her with a wooden vase and this certificate at our meeting on 1st October 2008.
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Awards for All - September 2007
 Friends of Troopers Hill received news in September 2007 that they have been awarded £5,000 by Awards for All, the public announcement of this Lottery Funded award was made on 23rd October.
Part of the grant was for 'Trooping the Hill' an interpretive project with local Scouts to celebrate the story of Troopers Hill. The project involved environmental arts and performance to bring the History of Troopers Hill to life and took place on Sat 28th June 2008. The remainder of the grant was to redesign two of the entrances to the hill. The designs were produced in consultation with local people through the Friends of Troopers Hill.
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Grand Raffle & Beeses Beer Festival - Summer 2007
The generosity of various local businesses gave a significant boost to the Friends of Troopers Hill finances in the summer of 2007. Our Grand Raffle raised £400 with most of the tickets being sold at our Family Fun Picnic in August. The first prize of balloon flight for two was kindly donated by Somerfield. Other prizes included a wonderful wooden vase turned for us by Tom Thomas of Topwood Crafts, Yatton from a Silver Birch that used to grow on Troopers Hill; a meal for two and other prizes from Beeses Riverside Bar & Tea Gardens; a year’s free membership, video and book from Barton Hill History Group and a chicken from Gingells our local butcher. Thanks to everyone who made donations.
Ma & Pa Beeses were even more generous in September when they donated £250 from the ticket sales for their highly successful Beer Festival.
These donations have ensured that we will be able to put ona full programme of events again in 2008.
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Big Lottery Fund, Breathing Places Programme - October 2006
Friends of Troopers Hill were delighted to learn of their largest grant award to date when the post brought news from the Big Lottery Fund in early October 2006.
The award of £9,984 was from the Big Lottery Fund Breathing Places programme. This scheme complements the BBC Breathing Places campaign which aims to encourage more people to get involved in their local green spaces. 
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YANSEC Grant - March 2006
Friends of Troopers Hill had some excellent news for their first newsletter of 2006. YANSEC (Yanley and North Somerset Environment Company) are a non-profit making organisation that receives contributions from landfill operators to finance projects to improve the environment of parts of North Somerset and Bristol.
YANSEC, which is substantially funded by Viridor Credits, agreed to give us £2,910.
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 This money was used to fund a path to provide wheelchair access from Troopers Hill Field to the chimney at the top of the hill and three benches. The path was completed in April 2007, Friends and others with mobility problems now have the chance to enjoy the wonderful views from the top of Troopers Hill.
Two of the benches were made at our work party in May, and were then installed in June.
The third bench has been made by participants in a local Youth Inclusion Project based at Barton Hill Settlement. This was organised by the Groundforce Project that aims to encourage residents of the New Deal Area (Redfield, Barton Hill, Lawrence Hill and The Dings) to use and improve their local green spaces. We hope to do more work with the Groundforce Project later in the year.
Unfortunately two of the benches were vandalised less than a month after they were installed; we are looking at ways to get them reinstated.
Thank you to Sally, our Local Nature Reserves Officer, who helped us to prepare the application to YANSEC. A condition of the grant is that we had to obtain 10% of the funding from a third party and we are extremely grateful to Bristol Parks who agreed to provide that funding.
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Cromadex Donation - April 2006
 The Friends of Troopers received some more good news in April 2006 with a donation from Cromadex, part of Akzo Nobel. The money was awarded through Akzo Nobel's Global Community Program, aimed at providing funding and help to benefit the local community. Alan, an employee of Cromadex at their St George site, is one of our most enthusiastic volunteers at work parties. He saw the scheme advertised at work and put in an application on our behalf.
 The donation is for £789 and is being used (together with £100 donated by a local resident) to install a bench and to restore a view from Troopers Hill Field. Alan has been taking part in the project by helping us cut the bramble at our Work Parties.
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The Bristol Wildspace Project - Summer 2002 to August 2006
 The Bristol Wildspace Project was funded by English Nature and the Big Lottery Fund. It is this project that provided funding for the post of Local Nature Reserve Officer expertly filled by Sally Oldfield.
It was Sally's efforts to increase people's awarness of their Local Nature Reserve and its potential that led to the Friends of Troopers Hill being formed in December 2003.
During the four years of the project Troopers Hill and other wildlife sites in Bristol benefited from a raised profile and from Sally's enthusiastic contribution to their management and development.
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  The Bristol Wildspace Project has also provided financial support for many of the events that we have held on the Hill and also for the School Project that took place in 2005.
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Smaller Donations
Although the money from the large grants listed on this page is very welcome, the smaller donations are equally important to us. One of our greatest successes was to raise money for the repair of the bench that was damaged in May 2004. £400 was raised, mostly in small donations in a very short time. The story is told in a short video on our Video Project page.
In the second half of 2005 we received donations of £100 and £200 from employers of two Friends. A further £350 was donated by staff at the Bristol Headquaters of Somerfield as part of a casual dress day collection. We have also received individual donations from various kind people. Money has also been raised through sales of refreshments and donated books and some payments for leading walks and giving presentations for other groups.
Following discussions at our meetings in the first half of 2006 we decided that the majority of the £200 pounds should go on some extra tools, with a small sum set aside for spares for our signs. The £100 pounds provided entertainment for the August Family Picnic. We were also able to fund a local botanist to join us on the August Purple Prowl to tell us more about the hill's plant life. There are always more things that we would like to do, so further donations will always be welcome.
Troopers Hill has also benefitted from the efforts of staff from the MOD at Abbey Wood. On 7th March, twenty of them came to the Hill for a team building day to repair some steps. Details are on our Work Parties page. If you think your company would be interested in running a similar event please Contact us.
Thanks again to everyone who has given both time and money so generously.
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Bristol Parks
As part of our partnership for the management of the Local Nature Reserve, Bristol Parks provide funding to help us carry out our activities through the Community Development Officer. Bristol Parks have also funded some events, such as our Bird Bonanza in February 2006. This funding is of course in addition to the money spent by Bristol Parks on the maintainance of the site which ensures it is a safe place to visit.
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Awards for All Lottery Grant - May 2004
The Friends of Troopers Hill were delighted to receive a grant of £3,269 from the Lottery through Awards for All in May 2004.
This grant enabled the Friends of Troopers Hill to get off to a flying start in their first year of activities. Our thanks go to Susan and Sally for all the work they put in to making the application and to Awards for All in Exeter for supporting us.
Details of how we spent the money can be found here.
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