Around 120 pupil, their parents and local residents of Reddish and Brinnington (Stockport) attended our Big Green Thank You event at Reddish Vale Technology College on Saturday 14th July to celebrate sustainable living.
The event was organised by the College, Youth Space (a concept designed to give young people a ‘space’ which they can use as a platform for reaching their goals and to exceed society’s expectations. ) and Kindling to celebrate a school year that has involved many amazing projects and new initiatives.
Chris Hill from Youth Space helped organise the event as part of the College's 60th anniversary celebrations and Kindling and its partners wanted an opportunity to thank all those involved in its recent Communities Living Sustainably Bid.
We had many activities on the day - each reflected an aspect of how we can all live more sustainably. The sun shone on our BBQ (with burgers direct from a local farm), pizza making workshop (with salad grown on the College farm), high-wire activities, Dj and wood working demonstration.
We also wanted the activities to be the result of involvement and work by the College pupils. For example: the salad has been grown by the College pupils in the Cloisters group (a provision to support students facing difficulties before they return to mainstream lessons), through a series of sessions with professional growers in the weeks leading up to the event. The raised beds that the salad is being grown in were created by local volunteers (with the support of Gtr Manchester's Land Army and the Big Dig programme).
The event concluded with Phil from the College thanking the pupils and our 'community champions' for their hard work in writing the Big Lottery Communities Living Sustainably (CLS) bid and the local MP (Andrew Gwynne) presenting a dozen pupils with gift vouchers as a thank you for their enthusiasm and hard work in mapping all the green challenges and opportunities around Reddish Vale.
As well as all those involved in our CLS bid and who helped out on the day (Cracking Good Food, Stretford Pizza Ovens, Mamu's Greenwood Crafts), we are indebted to the Communities Living Sustainable programme for bringing all of our groups together and Big Dig for supporting the food growing aspects of the day.