Great Big Green Week runs from Saturday 8th June until Sunday 16th June 2024 and is the United Kingdom’s biggest ever celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature. This year’s theme is ‘Let’s swap together for good’. From neighbours swapping skills in repair cafes or allotments, to businesses swapping fossil fuels for solar panels, to friends swapping fast fashion for second hand finds – every swap will add up to make a big difference. You can find out more about Great Big Green Week by visiting https://greatbiggreenweek.com/
Recently school children helped Watford FC’s Community Sport and Education Trust to ‘swap’ old footballs into wildlife habitats, as well as wildflower planters at the Club’s Training Ground.
The Trust has supported pupils at St Anthony’s Primary School with a variety of its projects, including Joy of moving and Premier League (PL) Primary Stars. This year the school’s Eco Council took part in the Trust’s PL Primary Stars Social Action project. The six-week programme takes a pupil-led approach and starts with group discussions on the current issues facing the environment. The children are then invited to complete a Sustainability Audit at one of the venues used by the Trust – Community Centres or Watford FC’s Training Grounds. During the visit the youngsters have the opportunity to engage with staff and see first-hand what is already happening to reduce the impact on the environment. Back in school, the pupils are given the chance to highlight areas they feel could be further improved and create ideas to address these. They present these to a panel of Trust staff in a ‘Dragons Den’ style session at Vicarage Road Stadium, with one picked to be progressed. The Social Action programme is proving popular, and since its introduction last year, 32 participants across four schools have already been involved.
From their visit to the Training Ground, St Anthony’s Eco Council identified an opportunity to recycle old footballs. They also wanted to support the work already being undertaken to encourage more wildlife at the ground. The pupils proposed to repurpose the old footballs into animal habitats.
Working with Schools Sports Project Officer, Nicola Burton, and Environmental Sustainability Officer, Ross Elliott, the youngsters carefully filled half of the balls with leaves, twigs and grass, before they were placed in the hedges around the Training Ground. The children also decorated the remaining footballs, before filling them with soil and planting wildflower seeds.
Speaking about the work, Nicola said:
“This idea really caught the interest of many Trust staff, as well the Club’s groundskeepers. Everyone took part in foraging for natural materials to conceal the new animal habitats amongst the hedgerows. After hiding them out of sight we hope to return throughout the year and check if any wildlife makes these new houses into their homes.”
Ross added:
“I think at first the children were in awe of the Training Ground, but once we got going they had lots of fun. Alongside all of the projects that the Trust delivers, we want to improve the surrounding natural environment. This was a great idea by the children, and we’re so pleased with their efforts.”
For more information on PL Primary Stars, visit the programme’s page on the Trust’s website HERE (Premier League Primary Stars – Watford FC Community Sports & Education Trust (watfordfccsetrust.com)), or email Nicola.burton@watfordfc.com. More details on the Trust’s environmental efforts can be found HERE (Sustainability – Watford FC Community Sports & Education Trust (watfordfccsetrust.com)) or by contacting ross.elliott@watfordfc.com