Monmouthshire Meadows Group (MMG) is delighted to announce that, after many months of fund-raising, it has reached its target of £96,000 to buy two traditional flower-rich meadows at Kingcoed near Raglan, securing their future.

The Meadows Group has been overwhelmed by the generosity shown by so many MMG members, well-wishers and local and national organisations.

“It was an ambitious target, but we felt we had to give it a go in order to save these precious wild flower meadows,” said group chairperson Dr Stephanie Tyler.

Throughout 2015, the group managed to secure substantial donations from generous supporters and grants from various trusts including The Banister Trust, Waterloo Foundation, Alan Evans Memorial Trust, Foyle Foundation, New Grove Trust, Gwent Wildlife Trust, the Ricardo Crawley Trust and Waitrose Community Fund. But they were still some way from the final target. Then, in December MMG had confirmation that Biffa Award was to give the group £45,000 towards the purchase of the fields and subsequent work on leaflets and display material to encourage the use of the fields by the public.  Biffa Award is a multi-million pound fund that helps to build communities and transform lives through awarding grants to community and environmental projects across the UK (www.biffa-award.org).

“This very large award means that the Trustees of the Meadows Group can now complete the purchase of the fields,” said Stephanie. “We would like to sincerely thank Biffa Award for their large grant as well as all the other Trusts and individuals who have kindly donated to the cause and made the purchase possible. The Kingcoed meadows are part of Monmouthshire’s environmental heritage and we hope that people will come along on our open days to enjoy this beautiful, natural habitat.”

The meadows will be open to the public on National Meadows Day on 2 July 2016.