The Fundraising Phone Box
By Curlew Action Ambassador Steve Woodard
In the little Yorkshire village of Wooldale the locals are marking World Curlew Day and Curlew
Action in a rather unusual way.
The village still has a red telephone box which over the years has been turned into a little
community hub for all sorts of things. The local allotment crew put their overspill fruit and veg in
there, along with an assortment of local produce and items and the money raised from donations
supports a variety of local charities. It is also decorated at Halloween and Christmas to create fun,
visual interest for the village.
My sister Carole Grogan, who has lived in Wooldale for over 40 years, helps run and maintain the
telephone box along with friend Vicky Crampton. Of course, being the sister of a Curlew Action
Ambassador she too is passionate about curlews and the work that Curlew Action is doing to help
save them.
So she came up with the great idea of using the telephone box to highlight World Curlew Day and
to raise money for Curlew Action. Happily, the villagers got straight on board.
Local artists created cards, prints & sculptures, some made jam and others provided all sorts of
crafty stuff to be sold with all the money going straight to Curlew Action.
What a fun, creative way to raise awareness in a local community and it just goes to show that
marketing and promoting a cause can take all forms and doesn’t always have to be digital to make
a connection.
I took this picture at a disused quarry local to Wooldale and it shows how important these inland
habitats are for breeding curlews.