A word from Brigit

It's difficult to know what to write when something comes to an end - but one of our lovely trustees, Jon Knight, has already written about what's happening with The Big Green Idea and with the bus so I thought I'd talk a bit about the experience I've had setting up and running a charity...just in case anyone out there is thinking of doing something similar!

I'm not very good at putting things succinctly (never have been!) so I hope you'll bear with me if this ends up being a bit waffly....

So, the main thing I wanted to say is that if you have an idea you think might make a difference, please don't be put off by all the obstacles in your way - or the fear that it may not work. Make a decision to commit yourself to your project, however large or small, and get started. The worst thing that can happen is that you don't get your idea off the ground - or maybe things won't pan out quite the way you hoped - but that's not the end of the world. Just don't wait for everything to fall perfectly into place otherwise it may never happen and you'll spend the rest of your life wondering...

When I decided to buy a bus and turn it into a mobile environmental resource I hadn't a clue where the funds for the refit would come from (and I'm really glad I didn't know what keeping a double-decker bus on the road would involve!). However, although it's been a challenging three years, at the end of which we are closing the charity and passing our beautiful bus onto the Eden Project, not only do I feel wonderfully positive about the outcome - but I wouldn't have missed those three years for all the tea in China.

What I have been a part of over the last three years has been life changing - and through working with our team of wonderful, dedicated BGI trustees, core support team and volunteers, I have been fortunate enough to experience, first hand, the extraordinary and very potent ‘Power of Community'.

When I first came up with the idea of the bus, I knew I couldn't achieve what I wanted to achieve by myself, so I asked for help...and help came from all kinds of different individuals in all kinds of different ways. Human beings are amazing and what they/we can achieve together knows no bounds! I know now that when Margaret Meads says ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.' She is speaking of a deep and magical truth. OK, so the BGI team haven't changed the world, but we've changed the way a lot of people think and act and it's all been down to team work, co-operation (amongst ourselves and with other organisations), recognising and respecting each other's strengths and weaknesses - and believing that what we were doing was making a difference.

So, if you want to make a difference, in whatever area you passionately feel there is need for change, the chances are that other people around you will feel equally passionate about your idea and will want to help you. If you are all working towards a common aim and remember to have respect for each other's ways of doing things, there is nothing you cannot achieve!

Having made the decision to close the BGI I'm not at all sad that the Big Green Bus now belongs to the Eden Project, because it really will reach so many more people there than we could ever have reached (plus I fully intend to go and help out as a volunteer whenever I'm in Cornwall) - but I am sad that I will no longer be working with the people who have helped make The Big Green Idea happen. Special people, too many to mention, but you all know who you are.

Anyway, I'm going to wind up here by saying a final thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who has helped and supported us in our journey - and I hope very much that any of you who have not seen the bus yet will manage to visit it sometime in the future at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

In case you are wondering what I'll be doing with all this spare time I'll have on my hands now; I have decided to put my energy into helping raise awareness of the problems we are facing through loss of biodiversity, especially the decline in the bee population. This means that apart from doing talks and writing about bees, I will, of course, need to spend more time in my garden and on my allotment growing the right plants for them so I can study their behaviour.

So, now it's time for me to get out and reconnect with nature...

Brigit x

Eden photo (c) The Eden Project 2010

Bus display photo (c) Tom Etheridge 2010

Bus and Bee photos (c) Charlotte Strawbridge 2010