A YELLOW plaque has been awarded to a nature reserve near Bix Bottom to recognise it was made possible from money left in wills.

The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, which runs the Warburg Nature Reserve, is one of the 10 charities to be awarded a plaque ahead of next week’s Remember a Charity Week.

It is hoped the plaques will encourage more people to include a charity in their will.

Roger Dobbs, the honorary vice-president and a former trustee of the trust, unveiled the plaque on Monday. The legacy of lifelong wildlife enthusiast Vera Paul is among the donations which help to maintain the habitats in the reserve.

Mrs Paul, who died last year, was a dedicated campaigner for the trust and fought to buy the land on which the reserve is situated.

She was awarded an OBE in 1980 for her services to conservation after raising the necessary funds.

George Murray, head of marketing at the trust, said: “It’s a great honour to be one of the first charities in the UK to be awarded a Remember A Charity yellow plaque. Legacies enable us to care for our nature reserves, to extend them and to save wildlife habitats under threat. They can be used to inspire the next generation and to show them the wonders of wildlife in their own neighbourhood.

“We are very grateful to those individuals who, over the decades, have enabled the trust to save 80 very special places for nature across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Working together, we have helped to give nature a fighting chance long into the future.” Rob Cope, director of Remember A Charity, the consortium of 140 charities behind the scheme, said: “The idea of legacy has been very much in the news this year.

“Our new yellow plaques recognise the legacies of all the supporters who have left gifts to charities in their wills, after taking care of loved ones, and helped the good work to live on.

“Few of us currently include a charity in our will. We wanted to do something to make people pause for thought and think about including a gift to charity in their will.”

For more information, visit www.rememberacharity.org.uk

Published 15/09/12