A recent grant from the Sheringham Shoal Community Fund to North Norfolk’s Hawk and Owl Trust has taken the total value of the grants awarded by the fund since its establishment in 2010 to over £1million.

One of the Fund’s criteria is ‘to contribute to reducing climate change’ and to support this ambition, the grant has assisted with the purchase of a £9,500 HiSun ‘Nipper’ electric vehicle (EV) to transport supplies and materials around the 250 acres of land owned by the charitable organisation at Sculthorpe Moor.

The Hawk and Owl Trust is making great strides towards carbon neutrality and the ‘Nipper’ will further reduce its carbon footprint by 1.1 tonnes per year as it replaces a petrol powered off-road vehicle.

The Sheringham Shoal Community Fund previously supported the charity with a grant to enable it to install air source heating, EV charging points and an off-grid solar PV system, aiding the charity’s resilience through standalone electricity generation.

“Our journey to net zero is progressing well, and we are extremely grateful to the Sheringham Shoal Community Fund for its on-going support,” said Adrian Blumfield, chief operations and executive director at the Hawk and Owl Trust.

He added: “We are now starting to replace petrol power tools, such as strimmers, with electric rechargeable ones, and our future plans include replacing our two leased road vehicles with either fully electric or hybrid models when the current leases expire.”

The Sheringham Shoal Community Fund receives a donation of £100,000 each year from the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm, which is operated by Equinor. Since the Community Fund was established in 2010, it has made 114 grant awards to a wide range of organisations in North Norfolk, and later this year representatives from these organisations will be invited to attend a celebration event to be held at the Hawk and Owl Trust Visitor Centre at Sculthorpe Moor.