To Honour Matilda
In 2024-25, our Litter topic is being supported by ‘To Honour Matilda’, a memorial fund set up in celebration of Matilda Pritchard, a brilliant, inspirational young environmentalist.
Matilda’s passion for the environment, and specifically litter-picking, started when she noticed rubbish was laid in a bird’s nest while on a family walk, she wasn’t happy that the small birds were using plastic waste as bedding.
A few weeks later, we signed up to a group who picks litter within the Pudsey area, with her purple bags, high-viz and litter-picker, Matilda set to work. The dog enjoyed the walk, and we all enjoyed the family time and the sense of achievement after collecting a few bags full.
A few weeks in, she mentioned that we hadn’t even filled one bag during our last walk, and we had to explain well that’s because of her (and her fellow litter-pickers) hard work, less litter = less bags.
At this point, she mentioned she dreams of a world without litter, something she repeated often, when unfortunately, more rubbish was found. Her hard work continued and was rewarded when we applied for a green Blue Peter badge, we didn’t tell her at the time, so she was very happy when she received it in the post.
As our time litter-picking carried on, Matilda’s passion for the environment increased and she began to learn all about nature, specifically bees. As Matilda was autistic, she was able to hyperfocus on specific topics and she loved finding out all about bees, and loved to share the facts she discovered with friends and family.
At home she loved to draw, her room is full of beautiful pictures of family, friends, and rainbows, she regularly watched Blue Peter with her family and her love of nature continued to grow, and we specifically created a back garden to encourage more bugs, which she loved to spot as she played on her favourite monkey bars.
Her autism and hyper sensitivities proved more of a challenge at school and though she was always top of her class in many subjects, she battled with her anxiety and never really appreciated how truly special she was.
On the evening of April 2nd 2024, Matilda went to sleep and never awoke, she passed away peacefully in her sleep from an undiagnosed heart condition. Her family continues to raise awareness of ways to save the environment, trying to be more like Matilda in every aspect of their lives, hoping that her legacy will continue through others.
