Eco - Action
Mayor of Westhoughton, Cllr Neil Maher visited the Eco-Action Team at The Gates Primary School on Tuesday 19th November to present the cheque awarded to them for a Grant requested.
Headteacher, Sean Doherty said “The Gates Primary School in Westhoughton were delighted to welcome Mayor Maher to school today to receive a grant cheque from Westhoughton Council for the school’s Eco-Action Team.”
Mr Doherty, Headteacher, explained that the school’s Eco-Action team have lots of ideas about how to spread the positive message of working outside and with nature and want to give back and include the local community here in Westhoughton. “Over the last couple of years, they worked with parents/grandparents to create their own allotments at school by using donated and locally sourced produce and working with our local Scout group to maintain and prepare their beds”. But the Eco-Team wish to develop this further by inviting local people, grandparents, parents etc, who enjoy working with nature, to their After School Club to help them develop their growing spaces and projects.
Mr Doherty explained, that one project the children have been able to begin as a result of the grant funding is a Community Enterprise project, “The Eco-Team are using the funding to create seasonal planters that they can donate to local care homes and areas within central Westhoughton and also sell at school at various points in the school year to create profits to reinvest in further purchases of materials, planters and produce so that this project will hopefully become embedded and cyclical. Our Eco-team would purchase materials and plants from local businesses so that those community links are further developed. Including the raw materials sourced from local garden centres and farmers.
The Eco-Spirit of the children does not end there, a long-term aim will be to host an Eco-Festival at the school to host local businesses and agencies who can share advice on sustainability and environmental improvement whilst also being a fun event for the school and local community to attend with music, stalls, information, eco-friendly products etc. “The children want to call it Gates-Fest”, said Mr Doherty and “Our Eco-Team would also sell their produce and plants that they have grown there. We want the children to recognise that to make a profit requires dedication and hard work but along the way, we can give back and involve our community!”
Pictured - Mayor of Westhoughton, Cllr Neil Maher with some of The Gates Eco-Action Team and Sean Doherty (Headteacher) and Micahel Pryle (Eco-Action Leader and Year 2 Teacher),
Pictured - Mayor Maher with Headteacher Sean Doherty and Rayden Hakim receiving the grant cheque on behalf of the Eco-Action team.
Members of The Gates P.T.A., and Eco-Action team supporters, Doreen Magee and Christine Tyrer present one of the first planters to Mayor Maher.
Mayor Maher was delighted to present the school with £500 to support this community project at The Gates