Design A bug House Competition – Ashford Designer Outlet / Singleton Environmental Centre / Ashford Borough Council (13th March & 25h April)
I am excited to post an update on the ‘Bug Hotel Competition’ that our young, Dylan Russell from Year 1, won back in October of last year. Leading on from being notified that Dylan was the lucky winner, he was invited to go along to the Singleton Environmental Centre to help ‘stuff’ his up-scaled model of his windmill bug house.
On the afternoon of Wednesday, the 13th March, Dylan and three lucky friends chosen from his class, set off to the Repair Café to see, for the first time, the giant version of his bug house. Once fully ‘stuffed’ it was to be placed in the Ashford Designer Outlet for all visitors to appreciate (including the resident bugs).
On our arrival, we were greeted by Greg, the organiser of the Ashford Designer Outlet Re-Wilding Project, and Claire Norman from Ashford Borough Council (who had supported this project and involved the two local schools). We then made our way over to the repair workshop to see the bug houses laid out in all of their glory! Dylan’s Grandad (who had helped Dylan make his amazing bug house windmill model), his Nan and Mum, also joined us. There was also the other lucky winner from Aldington Primary School, who was joined by his friends to help him fill his winning entry. As we walked into the Repair Café, the giant bug houses were laid on their sides, waiting for the stuffing to commence – they were magnificent, and all agreed, the gentleman in the Repair Café had done a sterling job!
The children had a fabulous time stuffing the bug houses from the many bags of natural resources that had been collected over the past few weeks. Once the bug houses were filled to the brim with twig, leave and pine cones, the children were allowed to go on a bug hunt around the Singleton Environmental Centre grounds; they had a wonderful time and even found a wasp nest and a semi-hibernating newt under a rock.
On Thursday, 25th April, the children were invited to the Ashford Designer Outlet for the official opening of the bug houses. After being welcomed by Greg, two gentlemen from the Repair Café and Claire Norman, we all headed off to see the bug houses in situ; they looked amazing! We especially loved the plaques that had been made for them, not only naming the bug houses but giving details about the winning designers. First, photos were taken of the children in front of their winning entries – ‘Bug Ben’ from Aldington Primary School (based on Big Ben) and ‘Air Bee and Bee’ from Goat Lees Primary School (based on Willesborough Windmill). Following on from the photo-shoot, each winner took part in ‘Cutting the Ribbon’ to official open their Bug House.
After all the photos had been taken, we proceeded to the Conference Rooms and, after a short ‘thank you to all those involved’ speech, we were treated to a pizza lunch and refreshments– the children (and adults alike) enjoyed this special treat immensely.
This was a truly amazing project to be involved with and, hopefully, they will continue to re-wild more of the shopping outlet green spaces.