Day Courses
We ran the second of our Marvellous Moths mornings with Dr. Chris Gibson- Wildlife Advocate for the Gardens and tutor for the Trust. This time the moth trap attracted an excellent selection for July, which has been an exceptional month for insects in general. Over 50 species of moth were recorded. Highlights included the ever popular Elephant Hawk moth and the beautiful Rosy Footman and Ruby Tiger. Marvellous moths mornings will continue during the summer next year. Click on the link below for a full report!
Marvellous moths morning at Beth Chatto Gardens – late July | Chris Gibson Wildlife
We kicked off the summer holidays with an active fun filled morning down in the wild garden exploring Summer Forest Skills. The children tried the Japanese art of hapa zome (designing fabric with stones and colour from vegetation) made swings in the trees, constructed dens, whittled sticks and made log pets!
School Visits
We welcomed eight more schools to the garden in July for fun filled days full of outdoor learning. Amongst the activities, children explored compost, drew soundscapes on garden concert cards, made mini herb greenhouses, created garden postcards and caught a wide array of pond creatures and minibeasts. The garden was full of butterflies with more than 20 counted on the buddleja by Beth’s house. Damselflies and ladybirds were landing on the children, they were immersed in the garden wildlife! A special thank you also to Wendy who volunteers her time to provide invaluable support with the school groups. Wendy you are an absolute star!
‘Thank you so much for yesterday - it really was the least stressful trip I've been on, and I'll definitely be booking again for next year. The children absolutely loved it and got so much out of it. Thank you to Wendy as well, she was so lovely, and really good at spotting those children that needed an extra bit of attention’. - Tendring Primary School
‘I'm emailing on behalf of St George's school in Colchester. Our gardening club visited Beth Chatto today and the feedback was fantastic! This has got us thinking about another trip next year!
‘I had such a lovely time here today, I wish I could stay’. – Home Farm Primary School
‘The day has gone so quickly!’... ‘What was your favourite thing?’… ‘Everything!’ – Queen Boudica Primary School
This month also saw several visits from our Garden Access Project for Schools or GAPS.
GAPS is a programme which offers schools identified as in need of support, a fully funded (including travel) class trip to the Gardens with Beth Chatto Education Trust. The main aim is to increase access to outdoor learning for children that may not otherwise have the opportunity. We often find that for many of these children this is the first time they have ever tried an activity such as pond dipping. GAPS is now in its third year and has been a very successful and rewarding programme that we hope to fund on a rolling annual basis.
FUTURES IN MIND – Staff Wellbeing Day
We ran the first of this year's wellbeing days for Futures in Mind staff this month. These days involve a variety of staff from the Futures in Mind ‘umbrella’ and involve activities to promote wellbeing, increase awareness and useful techniques as well as networking and strengthening partnerships.
‘Thank you both for the fantastic wellbeing day last week. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have recommended it to the rest of my team. It was a lovely opportunity to get to know staff from other areas and services and you created such a warm and inclusive environment for us all to get involved.
It was a really immersive day and I felt like a kid again running around in the woods finding bugs (and momentarily forgetting I was scared of them)! Thanks again’
Alzheimer’s Society Summer Sessions Pilot – No.4- Art in the Garden
We held the last in our pilot of summer sessions for people and their families living with Dementia. This month the group enjoyed an art inspired session with our tutor Jevan Watkins Jones leading drawing and painting activities in the garden and willow room. Well done to everyone for getting involved, you produced some lovely work and proved art is for everyone, discovering how relaxing and therapeutic it can be.
We will be working with the Alzheimer’s society to create another set of sessions to build on the tremendous success of this pilot and look forward to seeing new and familiar faces here again soon.
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