Children get back to their roots

Jul 4 2008 by David Norbury, Chester Chronicle

Children get back to their roots

SCRAP plastic milk bottles from a primary school feature in an unusual exhibit destined for the RHS Show at Tatton Park later this month.

The entry has been dreamed up by youngsters at Barrow Church of England Primary.

The RHS is encouraging schools in Cheshire to enter the competition to produce a plant container which will last at least one season outside and which uses rubbish that might otherwise have gone to a landfill site.

The aim is to encourage children to think not only about gardening but also recycling.

The school was keen to enter and its Green Team, a group of parent volunteers who look after the school grounds and run a gardening club, has been involved.

“The entry, Daisy’s Day Out, has involved the children shaping different sizes of empty plastic milk containers into a cow, wearing wellies, riding an old tractor toy and towing a milk crate trailer,” said co-ordinator Stephanie Heard. The inspiration for it is that Barrow is a farming village with dairy cows.

The children have been involved with sowing, potting up and planting out for the container, mainly at the gardening club.

They have also been to Okell’s garden centre which has helped with ideas for planting up and kindly donated some plants.

The nursery has asked if it can display Daisy at the garden centre after the show, taking place at Tatton Park on July 23-27.

Visitors will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite and whoever wins will get £150 of gardening vouchers for their school and a trophy.