Hamza Yassin picks a winner for Pollyanna Pickering Foundation

Wildlife cameraman and TV personality Hamza Yassin joined Anna-Louise Pickering, President of the Matlock based Pollyanna Pickering Foundation, to draw the winning ticket in their Winter prize draw.

Hamza is a British wildlife cameraman and presenter, known for his role as Ranger Hamza on the children's television channel Cbeebies and his work on popular shows such as Countryfile and Animal Park. However he became known and loved by a much wider audience in 2022 when he lifted the coveted glitter ball trophy as the winner of the twentieth series of the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing!

Hamza was born in Sudan and moved to Northampton at the age of 8 after his parents – both doctors – were invited to work in the UK. At 21, he visited a friend in Ardnamurchan, a peninsula on the west coast of Scotland, in order to photograph stags.

He loved it so much he packed his bags and relocated there two weeks later. For the first nine months, he lived out of his car, showering at a local campsite and washing his clothes at the local community centre.

He progressed to staying in empty holiday homes while he built his photography business and guided tours, and eventually bought his own home. Ever since he has loved to share his passion for ornithology and wildlife, and was happy to support the Foundation by selecting the winning ticket.

Established in 2000 by the late Wildlife Artist Pollyanna Pickering, the Foundation is a small but effective non-profit organisation which campaigns internationally to prevent the exploitation of wildlife and raises funds to support animal welfare and conservation projects worldwide.

Between the sales of prize draw tickets, donations and a percentage of sales from a recent exhibition of Pollyanna's work the Foundation has raised £5,000 to build a bat rehabilitation unit at the Harper Asprey Wildlife Hospital here in the UK

Mrs I. Clayton of Sutton in Ashfield in Nottinghamshire is the lucky winner of a beautiful hand-embellished giclee picture.

A full list of winners can be found on the website www.pollyannapickering.co.uk.