Our reds are off to the Bank of England!

Today, something rather special happened.

After 487 wonderful entries, the People’s Red Squirrel Banknote Collection has now been formally presented to the Bank of England, together with six very special entries chosen to represent it as Little Red’s Ambassadors.

We created the Collection after the red squirrel was omitted from the shortlist for the Bank’s forthcoming wildlife-themed banknotes. Rather than simply complain, we invited people to help us put our reds back in the picture.

And you certainly did.

Paintings, photographs, drawings, sculpture, children’s artwork and squirrels with bags of character arrived from across the country.

From those 487 entries, we selected six to become Little Red’s Ambassadors:

‘Willow’, sculpture by Kirsty Armstrong; a red squirrel drawing by Lyla Sinclair, aged 12; ‘Nut Cracker’ by Steve Urwin; a red squirrel illustration by Tanya Whitfield; ‘Hello Mr Squirrel’ by Penny Hutchinson; and ‘Mr June’, photographed by Vivien Brouwer.

They are not competition winners. Choosing six “best” entries from such a wonderful response would have been impossible. Instead, our ambassadors were selected to represent the diversity, creativity and sheer affection for red squirrels shown throughout the Collection.

And they now have an important job to do.

We have formally asked the Bank of England to share the Collection and Little Red’s six ambassadors with those responsible for its new designs, and for the red squirrel to be considered for inclusion within the supporting wildlife imagery on the new banknotes.

The shortlist for the principal animals is fixed, but the Bank has said these will be complemented by additional elements from wildlife and nature. We believe there is still an opportunity to put our reds back in the picture.

Behind all the creativity is something serious. Red squirrels are disappearing from landscapes where they once belonged. We cannot allow them to disappear from public consciousness too.

To every artist, photographer, sculptor, child and supporter who took part: thank you.

Six Little Red’s Ambassadors may have made the journey to the Bank today, but they carried the spirit of all 487 entries with them.

You can now see the completed People’s Red Squirrel Banknote Collection and meet Little Red’s Ambassadors here:

The People’s Red Squirrel Banknote Collection

And with more than 110,000 people now standing behind our campaign for Britain’s native red squirrels, that is quite a message to send.

Next stop: Threadneedle Street.