Students launch £66,000 campaign to go on trip of a lifetime (From Salisbury Journal)

Students launch £66,000 campaign to go on trip of a lifetime

12:40pm Friday 10th February 2012 in News By Karen Bate

LOVERS of the natural world at Burgate School and Sixth Form Centre in Fordingbridge are launching a massive fundraising campaign to raise £66,000 for a month-long trip of a lifetime.

Pupils have started collecting cash in a bid to raise £4,300 each in 20 months for a Camps International trip to the Galapagos Islands to work on a series of conservation projects.

Students are organising a series of charitable events to boost the coffers. So far Year 10 pupil Kieran Merrick has raised £1,500 since October by running a coffee morning, hosting three car boot sales and securing a Fordingbridge Rotary Club donation in return for hosting an illustrated talk on his return.

Teacher Nina Lister is organising the trip after taking 20 students to Borneo last year.

She said: “I am extremely proud of Kieran and all the students involved in fundraising for the trip. Judging by the response from those who participated in the 2011 Borneo trip, this will definitely be a worthwhile project and some-thing that can genuinely be described as a once in a lifetime experience.”

The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park and a biological marine reserve.

The islands, which are famed for their vast number of endemic species, were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of The Beagle.