I was lucky to be present at an inspiring afternoon recognising Limehills School’s “Green Gold Award” held at the school on 11th December 2015. First the “guests” Mark Oster, Amy Kirk, Pat Hoffman, Gay Munro and myself were shown some of the amazing projects the students had been involved with over the last year for example – the nature area, the vegetable growing areas, the kowhai shed, with students explaining what they had achieved. This was followed by an assembly for the whole school where students presented their work and in turn Gay, Mark, myself and Ali Timms spoke about the schools excellent work in achieving their green gold award. The final speaker was Board of Trustees chair Pete Hammond who thanked everyone involved, but singled out Mark Oster’s contribution – we all agree with that sentiment. Pete’s comment that Mark could “make a grain of sand sound interesting” confirms my own view of what an absolute asset to outside the classroom environmental education Mark is, and we are very lucky to have such a person in Southland inspiring our young people. The afternoon was ended with a rousing waiata by the whole school – Mum enjoyed that too! And this was followed by afternoon tea. It’s great to be involved and contribute in a small way to their success.
Chris
Posted: 12 December 2015
About 25 parents and children came to the Education Centre to enjoy a final get-together for the year on Saturday 12 December 2015. Good food and good company, music as well as bubbles, walks and a bungy entertained the children. Alan Admore and his bubbles are always a great hit and of course Santa turned up on his sleigh just in time to give out some well deserved gifts!
Posted: 12 December 2015
We were privileged to have a visit from the QEII National Trust Board on 23 November 2015. We realised as soon as we had bought our bush sections that we wanted them to be protected forever, so it was an easy decision for us to approach QEII. Our covenant was registered in 1999 and we would highly recommend covenanting natural areas on your property if you want to protect them in perpetuity. A covenanted area remains your own property but is registered on your title meaning future owners are required to respect your wishes for its protection. There are obligations for weed and pest control but there can also be help from QEII with fencing, weed and pest control. It can also be easier to get funding for projects if the land is protected by covenant. New Southland QEII Rep Jessie Bythell is the person to contact and for more information visit www.openspace.org.nz
Posted: 12 December 2015
A great response to the bird week painting competition resulted in these great winning bird paintings from Fiona van der Poel, Liam Graham, Kaitlyn Ramsey, Daniel Pask, Kyla Brown. Southland Forest and Bird donated KCC (Kiwi Conservation Club) memberships for a year to the winners which includes the great “Wild things” activity magazines – for more information about KCC or contact local KCC Coordinators Bronwyn Graham Invercargill 03 2130017 or John Carter Te Anau 03 2494315 or 02108650535 - www.kcc.org.nz
Posted: 12 December 2015
Learning about native plants was the subject of the Brownie visit to the Community Nursery on 3rd December 2015. A group of 12 enthusiastic girls studied different native plants around the pond tracks and then potted up native seedlings as their contribution to helping at the Community Nursery.
Posted: 12 December 2015
