Accrington St Christopher's Summer Eco Fair

An East Lancashire school St Christopher’s held a major environmental celebration, on Saturday 12th June.Visitors who biked to the event, were rewarded with a free breakfast, a little more exercise on the cycle smoothie maker ensured the extra pedal power was worth while with a healthy fruit drink!Children and adults tried to ‘give something back’ to the Earth, by learning more about sustainable living. The fair will brought together 12 local primary school teams to compete for the first "Primary Eco Factor" which was won by St Peter’s Primary School, Accrington. To find which primary school had the 'eco factor', teams of four were challenged to under take the green 'triathlon' and an eco treasure hunt around the fair. St Peter's were presented with a willow weaving workshop by Lisa, from Minipods.The event was run with the help of Lancashire County Council and local people were invited along to get into the swing of being green and to find out more about St Christopher’s bid for 'Green Flag' status. Eco schools are part of an international award program that encourages schools to become more eco-friendly and promote sustainability.Primary school pupils presented their recycled items in the "Green Dragons Den". This aims was motivate young people to think about reusing items in an imaginative way. The fantastic prize of a multi-use bench, donated by Prosperity Recycling and presented by Roots & Shoots Executive Director, Tara Golshan was won by Grace from St Bartholomew's CE Primary school, Great Harwood.Wendy Litherland, sustainability coordinator, said:

"It was a great opportunity for the children to carry messages of sustainability out into the community and to learn that being environmentally aware doesn’t stop at the school gates."

Mr. Green, Deputy Headteacher, added:

"Parents and their children demonstrated their commitment to helping save the environment for future generations and realised that every little thing they do to help save energy, does count!"

Delegates from Roots & Shoots and A Rocha, both environmental charities working with young people, travelled up from London to attend the event.Many other exciting events will took place throughout the day including a cycle/acrobatic demonstration by Manchester based all girl cycle dance troop, 'The Spokes'. Many scaled the climbing wall, tried the skate park or took part in the bike trials.For the less energetic there was the opportunity to brush up on your gardening skills or grow your own food. Willow weaving workshops ran throughout the day and visitors were invited to plant and dedicate a fruit tree to a loved one in our community orchard. A Compost Guru was on hand to give composting advice and Friends of the Earth and Hyndburn Council gave advice on recycling and other eco matters. All the regular fair stalls were there, such as raffles, games and tombola. Hungry appetites were satisfied with the local BBQ and café which filled them up with tasty produce that was low in food miles.Providing a back drop to the Eco Fair was the school’s new sixth form building site. The new building will use 40% renewable energy and we hope the fair will inspired the community to learn more about sustainable lifestyles whilst improving their health and wealth! By working together, we aimed to make this year’s summer fair a worthwhile enterprise that benefits the whole community.

To see more pictures of what we have been doing and for more info please visit our website.