Successful Saving of Pewley Down Fields
“The Saving Pewley Down Fields team are absolutely delighted by the fantastic result of the recent auction for the fields. Thanks to the incredible generosity of local people, who were quick to pledge substantial amounts to give us a war chest for the auction, we managed to put in the highest offer and this has been accepted by the vendor.
The bidding was very intense and went down to the wire with determined bidders, including developers, driving up the price of the fields. In the end, we have had to offer considerably over the guide price, in order to secure them.
Within the next few days, we will be contacting all our pledgers, and giving them documentation from Surrey Wildlife Trust which will set out the structure of the purchase and how to convert a pledge into a donation.
Because of the high selling price, we will need all our pledgers to donate in order to complete the purchase and ensure the future of the fields.
Since the announcement of the win there has been an outpouring of delight and more offers of donations which has been very moving to see. We are delighted to announce that people can donate towards the purchase and future upkeep of the fields through Surrey Wildlife Trust’s online platform via a dedicated page on the Surrey Wildlife Trust’s website: www.surreywildlifetrust.org/new-warren-farm-appeal.
We are all incredibly grateful for the support we received and are amazed at what our community has been able to achieve in such a short space of time, working closely with our lead donor, Julia Stephenson who co-owns the adjacent Surrey Wildlife Trust-managed Rosamund Meadow, the Surrey Wildlife Trust and Holy Trinity Pewley Down School. And we are grateful for the help from the Guildford Dragon who helped publicise the campaign.
We are now confident that this beautiful countryside will be protected in perpetuity from development, and we will be able to create an area that nurtures wildlife, offers environmental education opportunities and provides additional amenity space for the people of Guildford.”
More information is available on the Facebook page Saving Pewley Down Fields. You can email pewleydownfields@gmail.com.
Donations are still welcome and the form to use with Gift Aid is attached, as is a map showing the fields.
