On Friday 8 July, four (strong!) volunteers from Northumbrian Water joined forces with staff from the North East Learning Trust to help get our playground ready for the new Woodland Village arriving in the summer holidays.
The volunteers helped to paint fences and remove shrubs and plants from huge planting areas - some of which took quite some digging up! Northumbrian Water's 'Just an hour' scheme gives their staff time off work to go and help with community projects - all totally free of charge. Although it is labelled 'just an hour', our volunteers stayed most of the afternoon!
The freshly dug areas will now be transformed into mini gardens - one per class - to grow vegetables and plants as we aim to gain the prestigious 'eco schools award'. The other planters that were removed are making way for the brand new Woodland Village - a top of the range playground with a huge playtower, rope climber, hobbit house, and tunnel.
Although the pupils were not allowed to help out, they did make a wonderful thank you gift for the volunteers, which they presented to them after all their hard work.
The North East Learning Trust will be doing more work over the course of the summer to make sure the playground is in tip-top shape for the new term and that our children at Browney finally have the playground of their dreams...watch this space!