Updated 23rd February 2023 — Since we postponed the Walk for Wildlife 2 back in November last year we have been working tirelessly to find a new date for the walk this Spring. You may remember that our original chosen date(s) of Saturday 26th November (and then Sunday 27th November) were both found to be no longer viable after train strikes were announced by ASLEF, the train drivers union.
We were confident that with more time to plan and converse with partners we would be able to organise a walk for April 2023 instead, and we were making good progress. We had found a suitable date and location in London, the authorities were happy, all of the NGOs were onboard and we were just about to announce publicly – when the inevitable happened once again.
RMT announced more strikes throughout April which made our chosen date no longer a feasible option, and we have had to take the sad decision to postpone the walk once again for a third time. Whilst this is frustrating for us, we fully support the rail workers and their demand for better working conditions, contracts and pay.
Be assured that we still feel there is an urgent need to show that we the people of the UK are not happy with the way that our environment, our landscapes and our wildlife are being treated. We need a better deal for nature and we won’t get that without keeping up the pressure.
We will be organising a Walk for Wildlife 2 in the near future, but we feel we need to move at the right time to have the biggest impact. There are important dates coming up soon in the political calendar, with the next General Election likely to take place in May 2024, an ideal time to showcase the strength of our movement to politicians who are looking to be re-elected.
We hope to have more solid plans soon, and we will of course update all supporters when we have more information. The best way to stay up to date is by signing up to our mailing list below.
Chris & the Walk for Wildlife team
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Why not push ahead with the new date in April anyway, despite the train strikes?
After hearing feedback from our partners and supporters, it’s clear that the rail strikes taking place throughout April 2023 will have a significant impact on travel and will severely impact numbers of people to any walk, and we want as many of you as possible to be able to join us. Many of you have also kindly donated to our Crowdfunder to make this possible, and we want your donation to have the biggest impact. For those reasons, we have decided to once again postpone the walk.
I donated to the Crowdfunder, what happens with my donation?
Thank you for your generous donation. We are in talks with the Crowdfunder team about whether we can keep the site ticking over in the background so that when the time comes for a Walk for Wildlife 2, we don’t have to start the process all over again. If you are someone who has donated you currently have two choices: you can leave the donation in the Crowdfunder, and we’ll use it to fund the rescheduled date of the walk, or you can get a refund (details of how to do this can be found here). There is also a chance that Crowdfunder will not allow us to keep the site open for such a prolonged period of time, in which case every donor will receive a full refund and an email from us explaining the situation.
Will there be a People’s Walk for Wildlife 2?
We are back to the drawing board once again, and will be talking with partners and supporters over the coming months to come up with a new date & plan for the walk, likely to take place at an appropriate time in 2023/2024.