| Garden Makeover |
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| Palmersville Trainings’ Horticulture Learners give school garden the ‘Ground Force’ treatment. Take one grassy area; add enthusiasm and original ideas from the children at Balliol Primary School, the talent of horticulture learners at Palmersville Training (and a good measure of support from their training supervisors) add in a lot of very hard work and what do you get? Quite simply, a stunning garden for the children at Balliol Primary to enjoy for years to come! The project began at the beginning of the year when Palmersville Training was approached by Balliol Headteacher, Alison Higgins and asked for help in creating a garden for the children. A meeting followed; the children put forward their ideas to the Palmersville Horticulture team led by Training Supervisors Steve Fish and Derek Walker. Steve told us “It was clear from the beginning that the children were going to be very demanding clients and had many excellent ideas for their garden”. The Team were able to take the children’s drawing and ideas and translate them into a beautiful garden. Where there was once had only been grass, there is now stunning garden incorporating a wild flower garden, a secret garden and a herb garden. The garden incorporates many of the features requested by the children such as bird boxes to attract wildlife, raised beds, three paved areas (one in a butterfly design, one a compass and one a sunburst) picnic tables as well as fun element, such as a hopscotch area and a hill to roll down which the children have dubbed the ‘Teletubby Hill’. The entire project was completed in six weeks by a team of 6 Learners from Palmersville, with help from some year 10 and year 12 students from Seaton Burn and Longbenton Community Colleges, all under the close guidance of Steve and Derek. Derek told us that the project had been an excellent learning opportunity for the learners and had been extremely useful in helping to build confidence; “working with young children was a new experience for a number of our learners. The children were very appreciative of their efforts” He went on to tell us how the children often commented “you’re doing a good job mate” The garden was officially opened on a sunny Tuesday 15 July by Gill Alexander (Director of Children’s Services) the ribbon was cut by the children who were clearly delighted with their new Garden. At the official opening, Sharon Makepeace (Training Co-ordinator, Horticulture) told us how impressed she was with her Palmersville team; “During the six weeks we came up against many obstacles; the team was hindered by bad weather, on occasions the whole site looked more like a swimming pool than a garden and then there other hindrances, such as late delivery of materials, but the team battled through and we are all so proud of what has been achieved ” Special mention was given to two learners, Daniel Wharrier and Daniel Haystead who had both worked extremely hard on the project and were presented with a gift token each, in recognition of outstanding commitment and effort. However it has to be said that an excellent job was done by the entire team and at Palmersville Training we echo the children’s thoughts on the matter and say to each and everyone who contributed to the project “Good job Mate!” |
| August (2008) Archives |
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