Children to learn how to scan a sheep, pluck a duck and plant an allotment
Earlier today over 1625 first school pupils from 42 schools across Northumberland and Tyne & Wear spent the day being educated about the contribution that farming and rural life makes to their lives. This was at The Glendale Agricultural Society’s Children’s Countryside Day held near Wooler in Northumberland. One of the UK’s largest educational events dedicated to farming and rural activity, it is also often the first time children see where their food actually comes from.
This year the focus of this giant outdoor classroom was Grow Eat Grow – specifically chosen to demonstrate to children the importance of knowing how their food is grown and produced
To illustrate this theme, for the first time ever The Children’s Countryside Day had its very own purpose built allotment. Provided by Wooler based Northumberland Nurseries, it was a major show piece, and was fully fenced and fully stocked, complete with the essential garden shed with tools and a wheel barrow. In this area, the children were able to pull up their own carrots to see what they are like straight out of the ground, rather than clean and pre-sliced from a tin or packet. They could pick and eat their own radishes and press their own apple juice.
Jayne Watson who is the Chair of the GAS Children’s Countryside Day gives us her feedback on the day:
“Grow Eat Grow was a way of encapsulating the basic principles of ‘you are what you eat’. Many of the children who attended today were more used to an urban environment so we hope that they will now be encouraged to think about growing some food at home and really considering where their food comes from. I also hope that next time they visit the countryside they will have a much better understanding of the contribution that it makes to their everyday lives.”
“The day has exceeded all of our expectations in terms of the success of all of the exhibits particularly those being showcased for the first time and there are lots of happy faces from exhibitors, children, teachers and supporters. The weather has been very kind allowing us to really make the most of this wonderful outdoor classroom environment.”
During the day, through over 65 interactive displays the children were also able to take part in and see a huge range of rural activities including auctioneering, poultry plucking, butchery, planting, game rearing, fly fishing, sheep shearing, stick dressing and wool spinning. They learnt about crops and livestock and met the people who rear them. This year there were a number of first time exhibitors including Fraser Burn Scanning, A & J Scott and Kelso Races and The Moredun Foundation. The displays were all staffed voluntarily by over 150 local farmers, 50 stewards and food producers, landowners and rural organisations.
Through the displays of livestock and produce they could also see first hand how these raw materials are transformed into the end products with which they may be more familiar such as ice creams, cheeses and sausages. Steven Fowler Year Four Teacher of Kenton Bar First School who brought sixty three children aged between seven and nine gives us his feedback:
“This is a truly inspirational event and the children have thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The weather was fantastic and this is definitely their No 1 trip of the year. For many of our children they think that their food comes from the supermarket across the road, so for these children, today was the first time that they have come face to face with farm animals, and been able to talk to farmers and producers on a one to one basis and find out exactly where their food comes from.”
The Children’s Countryside Day is free to school and the main 2011 funders were – LEADER, Cheviot Futures, The Joicey Trust, De Clermont Charitable Trust, Countryside Foundation for Education, Hadrian Trust, Northumberland Estates and Dickinson Dees.
