Camilla Swift Camilla Swift

The White Cliffs of Dover, the National Trust, and a very public appeal

The White Cliffs of Dover are, arguably, one of Britain’s most famous sights – immortalised of course by Dame Vera Lynn. So no wonder, then, that when the National Trust decided to launch a fundraising campaign to help them raise £1 million to secure a 700,000 square metre area of land on top of the cliffs, Dame Vera was chosen as the person to front the campaign.

The National Trust already owns just under a mile of the White Cliffs of Dover, between the South Foreland lighthouse and Langdon Cliffs, which they bought in 2012. But at the beginning of September, after learning that the landowner of the area directly behind the cliffs was planning to sell the land and worried that it might end up in the hands of developers, the trust launched an urgent appeal to enable them to buy the plot of land themselves.

Over 17,500 people donated to the campaign, with the public’s £1 million contribution including money raised by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.

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