We delight in seeing children shine both inside and outside of the classroom. Please scroll below to read stories of community, courage and compassion.

• Year 6 writer's inspirational national award!

  Tue 11 Jun 2019

  Year 6 has an award-winning writing in its numbers this year.  Katie's submission to the Rotary Club's 'Young Writer 2019 ' competition not only won as the local entry, it also won the regional competition (Cumbria and Lancashire) and then went on to be 'highly commended' in the national competition, where it was judged into fourth place.  What an incredible achievement!

   

  Children were asked to write about someone or something that was 'an inspiration' to them.  You can read Katie's moving tribute to Margaret, her inspirational neighbour, below.

   

  My Inspiration

   

  My next door neighbour, Margaret, is my inspiration because of all the hard work she does.

   

  Eleven months ago, sadly, her husband past away with cancer. Even though she was really upset, she never gave up and still had a smile on her face. Also last year somebody in our village had to go to hospital. She is still there now and Margaret goes and visits her and helps her to speak; she reads to her and shows her photos. She looked after Annie’s dog. He was very timid and had a lot of problems.

   

  Every summer the trustees of the village hall run a cafe each week on a Sunday. Margaret does the cooking. She always helps out at all our village hall occasions. Despite how many hours it goes on for, she always carries on and has some fun on the way.  When people on holiday, she waters their plants and if they have any animals, she will look after them. She is also in the WI group. That includes charity work and art classes at various places. When somebody needs to go somewhere, she will always give them a lift- even if she gets back really late at night.  Margaret draws pictures and cards for other people. Her artwork is amazing. Her family loved art as well. Her mum used to like helping her with her art homework.  Margaret collects stamps for charity. There is a badminton class at the village hall that she goes to so she teaches people when it is their first time there and does warm-ups as well.  Margaret used to be a first-responder. Even though she is not a responder now, she is always round at people’s houses when they need help. Her next door neighbour is good friends with her so every week on a Tuesday they cook for each other. One week Karen cooks, the next week it is Margaret’s turn.

   

   

  Because of what Margaret has done, she has inspired me to do things for the community. I bake cakes and put them in the bus shelter to raise funds for charity. I hope I can follow the wonderful example she has set.

  

• Volunteers plant 10,000 wildflower plugs to create a wetland wildlife haven

  Mon 03 Jun 2019

  Volunteers of all ages came out to help plant over 10,000 wetland wildflower plants as part of an ongoing river restoration project on the River Lyvennet near King’s Meaburn.

  Last year, Eden Rivers Trust dug two large ponds at Littlebeck Farm on the floodplain of the river as part of a two-year Eden River Restoration project. Funded by the Environment Agency, it’s one of a suite of projects that form the Cumbria’s River Restoration Strategy.

  Now it’s spring, the Trust wanted to give nature a bit of a head start by planting up the edges of the pond with a variety of British wetland wildflowers.

  Over 12 days, people of all ages volunteered their time in sunshine and in rain to meet the challenge of planting 10,000 wildflowers.

  From the whole of Crosby Ravensworth Primary School, year 4 and 5 classes from nearby Morland Primary School, home-schooled teenagers, Newton Rigg College students, to staff from the Environment Agency plus volunteers and staff from Eden Rivers Trust, all braved the mud armed with trowels and tiny plant plugs!

  Over 30 different species were planted, including Marsh marigolds, Water mint, Bull rush, Ragged robin, Yellow flag iris, Purple loosestrife and Common reeds which will be able to cope with varying levels of water in the pond and provide much needed nectar for our pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hoverflies.

  Lev Dahl, the Trust’s River Restoration Manager who co-ordinates the River Lyvennet project said,

  “This is a really exciting project for us - helping to reconnect the river with its floodplain. These ponds will help to store flood water so slowing the flow of water into the river at high peaks and at the same time creating fabulous wetlands for wildlife.”

  Jenni Payne, the Trust’s Community Outreach and Volunteer Co-ordinator added, “Being able to involve the community in the creation of the ponds is so important, as they can experience first-hand what we’re doing and why. The school children were amazing, they had a great time, really getting stuck in and asking all sorts of interesting questions”.

  Creating these wetlands is just the first phase of this exciting river restoration project. This summer will see the creation of rapids in the river, a third large pond and removal of concrete banks to be replaced by willow spiling – living willow ‘fences’ that will help protect the river bank. Together, these will improve the river’s habitats, restore the natural river processes and help to reduce potential flood risk further downstream. This summer will see the bulk of the work being completed and the last pond will be planted up in Spring 2020 finishing this stretch of river restoration.