Leave a gift in your Will and look after the parks you love
A gift in your Will is one of the most powerful ways to protect the parks and green spaces of Bristol and Bath for the people and children who will need them long after we are gone. It costs you nothing today, and it helps make sure your local parks stay alive with nature, open to all and full of life for generations to come.
Why your park matters
Think of the park that shaped you. The one where you learned to ride a bike, fed the ducks with a grandparent, or found a quiet bench on a hard day. For so many of us, the local park is where life happens, and where we feel most like ourselves.
For a child growing up nearby, that same park could be where they take their first steps, make their first friends and fall in love with nature. For someone who is struggling, it could be the green space that helps them breathe again.
But parks do not look after themselves. Years of funding cuts have left them under real strain. Without people who care, nature fades, paths crumble and the communities who need these spaces most are the first to lose them. A gift in your Will helps make sure that never happens.
"Peace and solitude in this crazy world are hard to find, until you discover your local park. It's free dopamine for your head, heart and body." Tony Hickman, Alice Park, Bath
Our vision for Bristol and Bath's parks
Our vision is a future where parks keep you healthy, happy and connected, whoever you are, wherever you live. We work alongside communities so that everyone can access, feel safe in and belong to their parks.
Looking to the future, we want every community in Bristol and Bath to have a park that is safe, welcoming, rich in nature and open to all. We are growing programmes like Roots to Wellbeing, which helps people through their darkest times, and nature volunteering across more than 55 local parks. A gift in your Will helps carry this work far into the future.
Why leave a gift in your Will?
Leaving a gift in your Will is a deeply personal decision. It is a way of looking after the people and places you love and of being remembered for something that truly mattered to you.
A gift in your Will protects this work for the long term, so that decades from now a lonely person still finds friendship, a busy family still finds calm and a community finds somewhere to belong.
And because a gift in your Will only takes effect in the future, it costs you nothing now. You can look after your family first and still leave something lasting for the places that have given you so much.
What a gift in your Will could achieve
- Protect nature and wildlife Your gift could restore wildflower meadows, plant trees and bring birdsong back to bare corners of the city. Picture a child years from now kneeling in the grass to watch a bee at work, in a place your gift helped create.
- Support health and wellbeing For someone who is struggling, a park can be a lifeline. Your gift could fund programmes like Roots to Wellbeing, so people facing their hardest days always have somewhere green to find calm, connection and hope.
- Parks for everyone Too many people are still kept from their local park by a step, a missing path or simply not feeling welcome. Your gift could remove those barriers, so a Disabled child, an anxious teenager or a lonely older neighbour can all feel they belong.
How to leave a gift in your Will
Once you have looked after family and loved ones, you can choose the gift that feels right for you.
- A share of your estate: a residuary gift is a share of what is left once you have provided for the people you love. It keeps its value over time, whatever the future holds, which makes it one of the most powerful ways to protect the parks you love.
- A fixed amount: a pecuniary gift is a set sum of money, of any size. Every amount, large or small, changes lives and protects the parks we all share.
- A specific gift: you may prefer to leave a specific item, such as shares or property. And because gifts to charity are exempt from Inheritance Tax, a gift in your Will may also reduce the tax on your estate. Your solicitor can advise on the wording that is right for you.
