Gardening Club Success
Our community garden has come such a long way, and we are absolutely delighted that we are now in a position to hold bigger and better events for our community. Our first Gardening Club has been a great success,
Gardening Club
Benfieldside Community Garden Gardening Club has been a great success. Every Wednesday we have 15 children coming to our after school club. As part of this they helped with the tasks in the garden. These included laying mulch, planting spring bulbs, collecting leaves and watering the garden. We also had a late bumper crop of lettuces and cabbages for everyone to enjoy. The children love nothing more than getting stuck in and it is a delight to see their gardening skills advancing over the weeks.
Garden Crafts
Alongside the garden tasks, the children enjoyed their garden craft sessions, where we used the natural surroundings to inspire their art and provide resources for their pictures and creations.
New Hoodies and Hats
They all love their Eco Ambassador hoodies, and Building Self-Belief wooly hats, and it was great to see them turn up every week, wearing them with such pride.
Our New Sensory Area
As many of you will have noted we have been in the process of developing a new sensory area for the garden. The children played a pivotal role in helping us design the area, choose the toys and activities they would like now - and would have loved when they were younger. The area now has a fabulous mud kitchen, a sensory wall with loads of fun activities, a new road for the toy cars, and we are using the natural environment to create a series of games. They also helped paint our brilliant bug hotel. Thank you to Councillor Terry Rooney for funding this element of the garden. As soon as it is fully finished, we will hold an official launch.
Hot Food and Treats
Karbon Homes sponsored the Gardening Club, and as part of this we provided food and refreshments. The absolute highlight for them all was their hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows. They then had hotdogs and crips, with some sweets hidden around the garden for them to find!
Halloween Event
The culmination of this project was the Halloween Garden Event - it was truly spooktacular, We had over 30 children attend and a fair few parents and carers. A fabulous time was had by all. They decorated spooky biscuits, carved their own pumpkins, made Halloween masks, and Halloween suncatchers ready for Trick or Treating. There was face painting, balloons and a sweet hunt across the garden, where it was a delight to see the older children helping the toddlers find their fair share of the sweeties!
Highlights
A particular highlight for me was seeing first hand how much the children loved the new sensory area. I heard a few at the sensory wall, saying 'lets' make a band'. At the mud kitchen a few of them were playing 'restaurants' making chicken nuggets out of leaves! Lovely imaginative play - and not a phone in sight!
Coming Soon
The Garden Club has come to an end for the winter, and the children are already asking when it will be starting again. Our plan is to start it up again in the Spring, when the lighter nights are back!
Thank you to Karbon Homes
Can we say a hige thank you to Karbon Homes for sponsoring this programme out of their community budget, We really appreciate the support and the children got so much out of it - the friendships they developed, the experiences they had and the skills they have learnt will stay with them for a lifetime.
“Hi. I just wanted to send a quick message to say thank you for everything you are doing at the Benfieldside Community Gardens. My son absolutely loves coming along xxxx’”
“It was an amazing fun filled afternoon . A big thank you for all your efforts for the kids ”
“ It was great fun thank you 😊”
“Just Sash from yesterday’s Halloween 🎃 event! Firstly would like to say a big thank you for a wonderful day out with my son! We had a great time. ”
Youth Social Action / February 10th, 2025
Aspirations and Future Planning / February 10th, 2025
Global Opportunities for Young People to Extend your Life Experiences
There are many opportunities to extend your life experiences outside of education or work, including travelling or working abroad. These opportunities are perfect for young people to learn new skills, meet new people and gain once in a lifetime experiences. For people who leave school and are unsure about what they want to do next, these experiences can be useful to figure out what you are interested in and gain volunteer or work experience which is a wonderful asset to your CV.
Consett Heritage Project / September 13th, 2023
Anne-Louise Grant - Consett Heritage Podcast
Anne-Louise was born in Consett in 1966, and grew up in a village nearby. Her Grandad on one side was a postman and on the other side a miner. Her Dad was a metallurgist at the Steelworks and she had many family members who lived and worked in the area (and still do). She returned to Consett in 2004 to raise her family, having left to seek employment in London in 1989.
Self-Belief and Emotional Wellbeing / December 4th, 2023
Huge Thank You to Sunderland Counselling Service for Building Self Belief’s Award
I was delighted to be a guest at Sunderland Counselling Services AGM on 30th November 2023 and help them celebrate their 40th anniversary. As CEO of Building Self-Belief, it was a great opportunity to see the timeline of how SCS has developed and evolved over the past 40 years.