A gardening club has donated $40,000 to charities to support youth education programmes focusing on the environment.

The Garden Club of Bermuda offered $10,000 each to the Bermuda Zoological Society, the Bermuda National Trust, the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute and Waterstart Bermuda.

Betty Dale, the president of GCB, said the programmes matched the club’s objectives of educating with the hopes of benefiting “the community at large and future generations”.

Ian Walker, the principal curator at BZS, thanked the Garden Club for its generous donation.

He said: “This support is absolutely amazing because what it does is provide scholarships for children to attend our Aqua Camps during our summer period.

“Students who otherwise may not have the opportunity to enjoy all of our natural environment get out to North Rock and explore Trunk Island, which is a huge investment in nature in Bermuda.”

Karen Border, the executive director of the BNT, said that their donations would go to towards renting minibuses to transport children to sites such as Spittal Pond and Paget Marsh.

Karla Lacey, the chief executive officer of BUEI, also thanked the Garden Club, adding that it was “really progressive” for them to support environmental education programmes.

Ms Lacey said: “The Eco Schools Programme — the work that is being done by the education team — linking that together and making additional support available for young people to participate is a great tie-in with the goals and objectives of the Garden Club of Bermuda, and we appreciate they recognise that.”

JP Skinner, the director of Waterstart, said that the students would be the direct recipients of the donation, as the cash would allow them to “get outdoors to explore this beautiful natural environment that we have in Bermuda”.

The GCB aims to gather interest in horticulture, floral design and the conservation of natural resources. It also offers an annual scholarship for higher education.