NEON JUNGLE GROW WILD FOR NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
Chart-toppers back UK campaign to inspire young people to sow, grow and enjoy UK native wild
flowers
This spring the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has teamed up with fabulous, feisty four-piece female
act, Neon Jungle in a new campaign to inspire fans and their friends to sow, grow and get outdoors
to enjoy UK native wild flowers.
Let’s Grow Wild is a dynamic UK-wide initiative to inspire people to transform unloved spaces
with beautiful UK native wild flowers, supported by the Big Lottery Fund. The Let’s Grow Wild
campaign launches on 6 April, with a special hot-ticket rooftop ‘Neons’ gig in London. It has its
sights set on young people, aged 12 to 25, and there are loads of ways for them to get involved.
The UK has lost a staggering 97% of its native wild flower meadows in the last 70 years. This means
less colour in our lives and fewer butterflies, bees, pollinating bugs and birds. Let’s Grow Wild is all
about making a difference by sowing beautiful native wild flowers– and getting outdoors to have
fun and be creative – all at the same time.
Things kick off on 6 April when Let’s Grow Wild hosts an exclusive rooftop gig with Neon Jungle at
a secret London venue. BBC Radio 1 Presenter Gemma Cairney will on hand to get the wild flower
energy flowing and host the event. Fans and their friends from all around the UK get a unique
chance to meet the band, catch a sneak preview of the eagerly-awaited new single, Welcome to
the Jungle and kick off the spring sowing season in style, transforming a cool urban rooftop with
gorgeous wild flowers.
Asami, from Neon Jungle, says: “There are just 3% of our wild flower meadows left in the UK. We
really wanted to get involved in the Grow Wild campaign because we hope that as a band we can
make a real difference. We want to inspire our fans to get involved and sow some seeds!”
Jess, from Neon Jungle continues: “What we also love about the campaign is that everyone can
take part. You don’t need a garden, you just need to look around you and there are so many
places you can sow seeds. We will be getting creative and sowing our Grow Wild seeds at home
and in different spaces across the UK when we’re on the road this spring.”
Shereen from Neon Jungle, says: “We were all lucky enough to grow up with gardens even though
Jess and Amira are from London. We all love nature and think it’s important to protect it. I can’t
imagine there not being any wild flowers anymore – they look so pretty, and everyone should be
able to enjoy them!”
Amira from Neon Jungle , says: “You can get really creative when sowing your seeds – you can
really put your personality into it. People can show us what they’ve created, by uploading their
pics to the Grow Wild Facebook page.”
Gay Coley, Director of Public Programmes for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew said: “As well as
helping our wild flowers to flourish and bring life to unloved spaces, Grow Wild is about people reconnecting with the natural world. It’s about discovering and enjoying the beauty of our wild
flowers and re-engaging with the spaces, places and people around us - and it’s brilliant that Neon
Jungle are getting involved to help us to do this.”
Neon Jungle perform their brand new single Welcome To The Jungle at the exclusive Grow Wild
gig on 6 April. Tickets are up for grabs on the Grow Wild Facebook page
(Facebook.com/GrowWildUK). The gig will also be available to view on the Grow Wild YouTube
channel (Youtube.com/GrowWildUK) so fans should keep looking out for updates.
There’s also a chance to win an exclusive meet-and-greet with Neon Jungle later in the summer
via the Grow Wild Facebook page Facebook.com/GrowWildUK.
ENDS
For more information, images and interviews please contact Kindred:
Elizabeth Hampson
[email protected] / 020 7010 0865
Notes to editors
Grow Wild
Grow Wild is a dynamic £10.5m mass participation programme running until 2017. Funded by the
Big Lottery Fund and led by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Grow Wild sets out to encourage
people to get together to transform unloved spaces, gardens and windowsills into wildlife-friendly
wild flower patches.
growwilduk.com
About Neon Jungle
It’s been a whirlwind year for band mates Jess (21), Amira (18), Asami (18) and Shereen (17) who
have only been together since X 2013. In addition to X top singles, they have toured toured with
Jessie J, and have just been confirmed to perform at this year’s Wireless Festival.
The Big Lottery
The Big Lottery, the largest distributor of National Lottery good-cause funding, is responsible for giving
out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery. BIG is committed to bringing real
improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and awards grants to health,
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education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 The Big Lottery Fund has
awarded over £5 billion to communities across the UK.
Full details of the work of the Big Lottery Fund, its programmes and awards are available on the website:
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk .
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is internationally respected for its outstanding living collection of
plants and world-class Herbarium as well as its scientific expertise in plant diversity, conservation
and sustainable development. Kew Gardens is also a major international visitor attraction. Its
landscaped 132 hectares and RBG Kew’s country estate, Wakehurst Place, attract nearly two
million visitors every year. Wakehurst Place is home to Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, the largest
wild plant seed bank in the world. RBG Kew and its partners have collected and conserved seed
from 10% of the world's wild flowering plant species (c.30, 000 species). www.kew.org
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