{"id":489009,"date":"2026-03-22T09:14:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T09:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/489009\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T09:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T09:14:25","slug":"id-love-to-see-others-follow-their-lead-west-hull-rugby-clubs-nature-scheme-hailed-by-yorkshire-wildlife-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/489009\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019d love to see others follow their lead\u2019 – West Hull rugby club\u2019s nature scheme hailed by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Successful project sets an example for other sports clubs\"Andrew<\/p>\n

Andrew Gibson, Outer Humber Officer for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, with West Hull Community Hub volunteers Rowan Aldred-Young (left) and Daniel Burcham(Image: supplied image)<\/p>\n

A wildlife project at an amateur rugby league club in Hull is mixing nature with nurture. Volunteers at West Hull ARLFC have turned part of their home in North Road into an urban nature reserve, creating a new environmentally friendly space in one of the city\u2019s most deprived neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

The sports ground is known as Johnny Whiteley<\/a> Park, named in memory of the late rugby league<\/a> legend. Now Yorkshire Wildlife Trust<\/a>\u2019s (YWT) Outer Humber Officer Andrew Gibson, who has worked with volunteers from the club\u2019s Community Hub, is hoping other sports clubs in the area will follow their example.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThis is one of the best projects I have ever been involved with. We started out with a target of turning over 30 per cent of the ground to nature by 2030 and we did it within a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was once an entirely uniform grassed area now boasts a variety of different habitats. Mr Gibson said: \u201cAt the start, we sat down with the groundsmen to work out how we could change the way the site was managed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are two playing pitches and a training pitch but there was also a lot of additional land really doing nothing. It was all about encouraging them to try new things.<\/p>\n

\"General<\/p>\n

General views of the new wildlife areas at Johnny Whiteley Park in Hull(Image: supplied image)<\/p>\n

\"West<\/p>\n

West Hull ARLFC have turned part of their home in North Road into an urban nature reserve(Image: supplied image)<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of cutting in straight lines like they have always done, we got them to cut more natural wavy edges to the borders and mow the areas between the pitches less often to allow wildflowers to come through.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, hedgerows are now cut less often, encouraging them to flower and fruit properly, while a woodland walk has been created at the eastern end of the site along with a meadow where grasses are allowed to grow through the summer, providing a food source for insects and small mammals.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo their credit, the guys really got it,\u201d said Mr Gibson. \u201cI would love to see other amateur sports clubs and schools follow their lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already had encouraging talks with the Rugby League about rolling out what we have done here elsewhere.\u201d As well as the club\u2019s groundsmen, the project has been supported by the Community Hub, which opens two days a week as a social resource for people of all ages.<\/p>\n

Anji Gardiner, Hub trustee, said: \u201cIt all started when I was watching a game here with Johnny Whiteley\u2019s daughter, Kim, and we got talking about getting a few bird boxes to put around the ground because there was so much greenery. I didn\u2019t really know anything about birds and didn\u2019t want to put them in the wrong place so we were pointed in Andrew\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe agreed to come and see the site and we\u2019ve never looked back. One of the first things we did together was organise a litter pick as part of the Great British Spring Clean event.<\/p>\n

\"West<\/p>\n

West Hull Community Hub trustee Anji Gardiner with Andrew Gibson, Outer Humber Officer for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust(Image: supplied image)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe weather<\/a> was horrendous but 300 people still turned up to take part. We knew then we were onto something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Gibson said the most rewarding part of the project has been involving people who use the Community Hub as a regular meeting place. \u201cIt\u2019s been wonderful to see what was previously just a big sports ground becoming something for all of the community to enjoy and being able to introduce nature into people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The link-up with the YWT has resulted in coach trips to the trust\u2019s nature reserve sites at Spurn Point and Flamborough Head, as well as hands-on tree-planting sessions back at the club\u2019s ground. \u201cAlthough the site isn\u2019t prone to flooding like many places in Hull, we\u2019ve also had Yorkshire Water\u2019s Living With Water team here to encourage people to install water butts.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s all about raising awareness and making nature and the environment relatable to people. This project is delivering that in spades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hub volunteer Rowan Aldred-Young now spends time working on the nature reserve. She said: \u201cIt\u2019s very rewarding to be doing something like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like nature and being outdoors. Being here is like being in the countryside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you know you can make Hull Live a preferred source of Hull news in Google, which will mean you get more of our breaking news, exclusives, and must-read stories straight away? Here’s more information<\/a> about what this means and how to do it – you can also do it straight away by clicking here<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Successful project sets an example for other sports clubs Andrew Gibson, Outer Humber Officer for the Yorkshire Wildlife…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1397,5903,20370,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-489009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-environment","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-league","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}