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Digital TV station Community Channel is showing the UK premiere of Green Heroes on Tuesday 16th May @ 8pm and Friday 19th May @ 7pm.  The film profiles five environmental volunteers who have been shortlisted to receive a BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) Green Heroes Award.

Mair Baker from Swansea has set up a volunteering group called JR Groundforce, which has been nominated as Community Group of the Year. The group participate in ‘Green Blitz’ activities where they blitz an area within their community and clear it completely of litter. They’ve also created four community gardens that the children of the community helped to design.
The positive efforts of the group’s work is evident through the reduction of crime and antisocial behaviour and the visible impact on the local environment and community.

13-year-old Thomas Wretham from Cardiff has been nominated for the Young Volunteer of the Year award. He volunteers on a project in his local community working to improve woodlands which have become a problem to the community due to fly tipping, arson and motor bike riding. Tom has become a firm favourite among all the other volunteers, young and old, due to his constant enthusiasm. One day he was so keen to get started on the work that he arrived two hours early!

Huda Alarashi volunteers for BTCV Scotland. She has been nominated as Volunteer of the Year. She is the Volunteer Officer for the Environments for All project and spends a lot of her time recruiting other volunteers from marginalised communities.  Her volunteer work has given her the skills and knowledge needed to organise her own environmental activities, she regularly takes groups of volunteers on guided walks and heritage trails.

The nominee for the Dave Donohue Special Award for Volunteer of the Year is Sarah Worthington of High Wycombe. She’s been volunteering since she was at university ten years ago. As well as volunteering regularly in Buckinghamshire, she has also lead environmental holiday groups all over the world including a number in Japan.

The BTCV Green Hero Awards aim to highlight the work of inspiring volunteers who prove that practical environmental solutions start at a grassroots level and that individuals and small groups of people really can make a difference.   Winners will be announced in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday 16th May. HRH The Duke of Edinburgh will award four national prizes recognising people that give up their time to look after their local environment.

For further information, please contact Rhiannon Clarke at Community Channel on 020 7874 7908 or rhiannonc@communitychannel.org

Notes to Editors: Community Channel is TV that gives a damn. It makes you think again about the world around you, and inspires you to take action on the causes and issues that matter to you. Broadcasting original shows, the best of terrestrial TV and showcasing the work of new directors and community programme makers, Community Channel is the place for real-life stories.

The channel is broadcast 24 hours a day, every day on Sky 539, Telewest 233 and NTL 14 & 511, and from 6-9am on Freeview 87.

The Media Trust: Established in 1994, the Media Trust works in partnership with the media industry supporting the voluntary sector's communication needs through its services and initiatives including: the Community Channel, Community Newswire, Media Trust Productions and specialised media training, seminars and on-line matching.

Media Trust corporate members are BBC, BSkyB, ITV, Channel 4, Discovery Networks Europe, Guardian Media Group, MTV Networks UK and Ireland, News International, Newsquest Media Group, Romeike, Turner Broadcasting System Europe, Weber Shandwick and WPP. Visit www.mediatrust.org.