Mike Swan Wins NGO Educational Trust Bellamy Award

More News

The NGO Educational Trust Bellamy Award 2015 has been won by Mike Swan, the Head of Education at the Game &, Wildlife Conservation Trust. The presentation, which was kindly made by Joe Dimbleby, the Editor of Shooting Times &, Country Magazine, took place at the headquarters of the Game &, Wildlife Conservation Trust, Fordingbridge, Hampshire. Dr Swan also received a cheque for £250.

The NGO Educational Trust's principal aim is to promote awareness of the need for sustainable wildlife management in the countryside, while stressing the importance of the conservation work carried out by gamekeepers.

Mike Swan, the GWCT’s Head of Education, said: "I am both delighted and highly honoured to receive the Bellamy Award from the NGO Educational Trust. I have always admired the educational work of the NGO Educational Trust, in explaining the benefits of good game management in the wider countryside. Over thirty years of working in the advisory and education side of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust has given me a unique insight into the good and largely unsung work that gamekeepers do in conserving and managing wildlife, and I count myself lucky to have been able to help promote this.”

Brian Hayes, the NGO Educational Trust Administrator, said: "You couldn’t have a better winner of The NGO Educational Trust Bellamy Award than Mike Swan. I am so pleased he has won it. No one in the countryside makes the case better than Mike for the vital role game and gamekeeping play in sustainable countryside management. He is a practical, hugely knowledgeable countryman with brilliant communication skills. I know for a fact that Mike has won legions of folk around to our way of thinking over the years. He’s like a one-man PR machine promoting keeper-led conservation. A big well done.”

The NGO Educational Trust Bellamy Award was launched in 2010 to recognise those who display exceptional creativity and initiative in promoting the gamekeeper's role in sustainable countryside management.

The trophy, made from a piece of bog oak many thousands of years old, was presented to the NGO Educational Trust by the conservationist (and NGO Patron) Professor David Bellamy to symbolise the enduring nature of mankind's relationship with the living landscape.

Picture caption (l-r): Brian Hayes, the NGO Educational Trust Administrator, Mike Swan, winner of the 2015 NGO Educational Trust Bellamy Award, and Joe Dimbleby, Editor of Shooting Times &, Country Magazine.

The National Gamekeeper's Organisation Educational Trust was established in 1999 and is a Registered Charity, number 1076923. It is an independent charity working to promote public awareness of the need for sustainable wildlife management in our countryside, stressing the importance of the conservation work carried out by gamekeepers. Forty-nine out of fifty people say they have never met a gamekeeper, so public knowledge is entirely dependent on the media.