Recently I have been working with pupils in year 6 at St. Thomas school in Ashton to help them improve a stretch of Millingford Brook. Working with Paul Fenton, co-ordinator of the Wigan FC media bus, and their teacher the children selected a local environmental feature that they wanted to see improved. They chose a stretch of Millingford Brook that runs from Mill Street to Lincoln Drive.The next stage of the project was to script and record a radio programme highlighting their concerns about the brook. That is where I came in. I agreed to be interviewed on the media bus by the children. Well, the interview was not quite Paxman but the questions the children asked were searching and pertinent.What was also very striking was the confidence the children showed i front of a microphone. The final version of the programme was played this week in a school assembly. The same pupils have also produced a well made brochure to highlight the issue.
The reason the children wanted me involved was to help them get the brook cleaned up. In the question and answer session I had to explain that a) I was not personally going to clean it up and b) I was not going to fund any clean up out of my own pocket. However I made it clear that I knew a man who could. I contacted the Environment Agency who have spent the last week cleaning up the stretch of the brook that the children wanted improved. (I hope to show the before and after pictures later on this blog.) Another unexpected result of this project was that a member of staff from the Environment has volunteered to go into school and give a talk about the wildlife to be found on the banks of the brook.
I found the whole experience very enjoyable and would like to be involved with similar projects in the future
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