How to work with young people on neighbourhood planning

If you’re running a community consultation or creating a Neighbourhood Plan, it’s essential that you include the views of as many different groups of residents as possible – including young people.

Eden Education Team member Bran Howell shares his advice on how to make this task easy, rewarding and useful.

Top tips for including young people in neighbourhood planning

Many of these suggestions work for people of all ages anyway – because we all like to be engaged in creative ways!

1. Avoid a classroom layout in meetings
If you meet where people are comfortable, you’re far more likely to get a better picture of their opinions. Stuff like making sure all the chairs are at the same height and – although it’s a cliché, I know – setting the room out in a circle, really works.

2. Don’t have too many adults in the room
Young people mustn’t feel that they have to say what adults want them to say and, if the adults are strangers, it can be intimidating having them looming over their shoulders.

3. Bribes and free food are always good
Biccies and cake work particularly well. So do interesting activities. When consulting about play provision I took the young group on a tour of top playgrounds in the area for them to ‘research’ – by playing on them.

4. Be creative
Avoid clipboards and questionnaires if you can. Asking young people to make a film, a play, draw a mural or make a model will engage and enthuse young people far more effectively. It might take more time, but you are more likely to empower young people to speak from the heart. These sorts of approaches are especially appropriate if the outcomes of your consultation aren’t likely to become tangible for a while.

5. Arrange a fun event
Activities, rather than meetings, are a great way to spend time with young people. You can use the time to find out their views. Find out what the group of young people you want to talk to are into and then arrange something to appeal to them, for example a skating competition. Remember that all young people are very different though, so you won’t be able to engage all groups or ages in one go.

6. Ask young people what they would like to do rather than what they would like to have
This avoids you ending up with a huge shopping list of ‘things’. People often get carried away making huge lists of kit, equipment and resources rather than thinking about what it can do for them. Questions like ‘Okay, what do you want?’ often produce unhelpful responses such as ‘Disneyworld’ or ‘an Olympic swimming pool’.

7. Be clear about their role in the process
Explain your role in the consultation, too, and how much their views might (or might not) be taken into account. Young people (especially teenagers) expect to be let down by adults, society and the world in general, so make sure you aren’t promising something that is not in your gift to deliver. Manage expectations and be honest about the project and point out all the pitfalls before you start; they will appreciate your honesty.

8. Avoid tokenism
Young people make great photos for local newspapers, but make sure that isn’t the only reason they are invited. They’ll see through this sort of ‘rent-a-crowd’ project very easily and it’s much harder to rebuild trust once they have been let down.

9. If you can’t get young people to come to you, go to them
They are also much more likely to open and honest in a situation where they feel at home. I heard about a great example where the residents group chatted to young people at the bus stop while they were waiting to go to school – brilliant!

A few golden rules on how to engage with young people

Here are a few things I’ve picked up over my 16 years working with young people and adults, which will help you engage with them in a natural and inspirational way.

1. Be yourself
   Treat all groups as you would your friends; smile, be friendly and respectful. Only change your language if it’s appropriate.
2. Don’t try too hard
   Being ‘down with the kids’ isn’t cool, and they can see through it immediately. Being cool only happens to people who don’t try too hard.
3. Don’t take yourself too seriously
   Be prepared to laugh at yourself. And to admit you are wrong sometimes. Of course it’s also good to appear confident, nothing beats a well-planned event. Knowing your subject well isn’t essential, but it helps.
4. Enjoy yourself
   When you’re running these events, remember that if you appear bored and fed up about missing your favourite TV show, then how must your audience feel?
5. Enthusiasm rules
   We can listen to anyone as long as they are full of enthusiasm. I had a friend who had a PhD in marine biology and he was a real star on rock pool rambles. I didn’t understand all his big words, but his enthusiasm meant that young people followed him into the deepest muddiest corners of the beach.

These tips were put together as part of the Planning Camp which took place in February 2012, arranged through the Building Community Consortium. See a creative diagram of these top tips, to give you more inspiration.

Get free advice and access inspirational case studies for your neighbourhood planning on the Eden Project website.

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Cornish pasty poems and songs

Ahead of the World Pasty Championships we’re holding at Eden on Saturday 3 March we’ve gathered some rhymes, songs, poems and ditties that celebrate the oggy (that’s Cornish for pasty).

Write your own pasty lyrics

Have a listen and read below, and if you think you can do better, why not post your pasty poem or song below this blog or on our Facebook Wall? We’re also inviting pasty-themed haikus on Twitter: find out how to write a haiku poem here.

Pasty songs and rhymes by Hilary Coleman of traditional Cornish band, Dalla

A Cornish Pasty, sung by Year 2 pupils from St Agnes School, Cornwall

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John Rowe, sung by the Lev Krev singers

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Pasty Seller’s Cry, sung by Hilary Coleman

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Matthew, Mark and Luke and John sung by Year 2 pupils at St Agnes School

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These songs are taken from Hilary’s Cornish songbooks for schools: Hoolybus and Lev Krev

Poem by Walter F. Gries of Marquette, Michigan, USA

I dearly love a pasty, a ‘ot leaky one;

With mayt, turmit and taty, h’onyon and parsley in ‘un

The crus’ be made weth suet, shaped like ‘alf a moon;

Crinkly h’edges, freshly baked ‘e es alway gone too soon!

Sourced via the Michigan Tech website

Ode to the Pasty by Emma Mansfield

The pasty, a laden, honest bake,

A hand made pastry wrapping veg and steak.

A pregnant old pie, that cooks in its gravy

Best fresh from the oven, when it’s moist and tasty.

Fashioned through history, eaten by all,

It’s a kind of edible, hot water bottle.

And as you bite from a Cornish, traditional dish,

Let your palate feast on a history that’s rich.

Today, yes it’s still our proud daily bread,

Keeping bakers and crimpers paid and fed.

And as you sup on this carbo-filled find

Know that it’s legacy came from our mines.

And as our mining trade wound down its roar,

The pasty was taken around the wild world o’er.

It left our shores as cousin Jack went to find

New world opportunities, digging other peoples mines.

So enjoy your pasty, it sure does fill,

It’s one of Great Britain’s most famous of meals.

It nourished our miners as they cribbed underground

And now it’s known the wide world around.

And whilst the pasty’s home sits on the edge of Great Britain

This proud much-loved place has held many hearts smitten

So enjoy your pasty and wherever you may take it

Know in your heart that only Cornwall can make it.

Published in The Little Book of the Pasty

Extract from Ode to a Cornish Pasty by James Crowden

You may sink your teeth into me

Meaty morsel, croust and crib

Skirt and tatties with a touch of swede

Peppered up, crimped and folded.

Hot stuff, hoggan, convenient, fast

Baked to a turn, you can hold me close

Warm you hands on my curved body

Slide me into your pocket.

I reared the Cornish nation,

Gave men the strength they needed

Working lodes of tin and copper

Driving stope, level and adit

Faces that have eaten a thousand pasties

Stood the test of time.

A family affair,

Smuggled overseas, secret recipes

Still brought to surface down under.

You may sink your teeth into me

Feel the afterglow deep inside.

Tasty reminder of creature comforts.

Lick your lips, lie back and think of Cornwall.

Published by Prospect Books in Open-mouthed: a cutting edge book of food poetry

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How to use Twitter, Facebook, blogs and more for neighbourhood planning

If used well, social media can be a fantastic free tool for anyone running a community consultation or mobilising residents to take part in neighbourhood planning.

While there’s no substitute for traditional methods of communication, such as door knocking, local meetings, posters and leaflets, Twitter, Facebook and blogs can help your campaign reach more people.

Here are five reasons why you should consider using social media for neighbourhood planning – and five golden rules to help you do it well. You can also download our in-depth Social media guidelines for neighbourhood planning for more detailed information about putting these into practice.

Five reasons to use social media for neighbourhood planning

1. Start a debate
   • If you’re collecting views from neighbours about the local area, social networking sites like Facebook are a good place to encourage debate – and perhaps reach those who are more comfortable using this technology than attending meetings. Hoylake Village Life, a community-run enterprise spearheading the regeneration of this Wirral town, asked their Facebook fans ‘What is top of your list for making Hoylake better than it already is?’ and received over 20 suggestions within one weekend.
   • It’s an informal setting for people to throw ideas into the pot (some with a sense of humour, of course), while they’re online checking their own Facebook profiles anyway – very different from attending a scheduled meeting and having to stand up in front of everybody. What’s more, the Facebook Friends of anyone who comments will see that the have done so, meaning the debate sends ripples beyond those who are directly involved.
2. Create a sense of identity
   • Half the battle of creating a Neighbourhood Plan is getting people to feel a sense of civic pride. Online forums and social networking sites like Facebook are a good way of sharing photos (for example, from recent events, such as this one from Lynton and Lynmouth’s Neighbourhood Plan launch) or enthusiasm about the project.
   • The Campaign for Queen’s Park, which is working to create the first ever Community Council in London, has opted for a closed online forum and a public blog to instigate debate, advertise events, share offers of help and generate a buzz about the campaign. (Anyone can set up a free forum like this one.)
3. Connect in real time
   • There’s nothing like being able to post comments, images, ideas and last minute changes of plan as they happen. Rather than have to wait for the next parish newsletter, you can update people on what happened at the consultation event, for example, as soon as it’s over, or even as it’s happening, via a smartphone.
   • Twitter is also a good tool to do this. When we hosted the Planning Camp, for Neighbourhood Planning Front Runners, at the Eden Project, we encouraged people to live tweet from the event – helping to share it with those who couldn’t be there in person. By asking people to use the hashtag #planningcamp (essentially a label which lets people filter tweets by subject matter) anyone was able to follow the highlights of the event as it unfolded. Take a look at the results on Twitter.
4. Establish a presence
   • Being seen online helps give your project more credibility in external circles too. If you want to take your campaign to the next level, for example to get funding or to win the support of your local authority, you’ll need to prove how many people were engaged in the process. Numbers of how many Facebook fans, Twitter followers, blog readers or forum members can demonstrate that your project is an active, inclusive one.
5. Network and get help
   • Facebook and forums are a good way to communicate with people within your community, especially as many people are already active users of Facebook. Residents may not be so au fait with Twitter, but for community leaders it can be a great way to get in touch with people in other communities trying to do the same thing as you. Read our in-depth guidelines on how to find and give help on Twitter, and connect with useful people you’ve never met before.

Five golden rules for using social media in a neighbourhood planning context

1. Post regularly
   Make sure your online spaces don’t have tumbleweed blowing through them. That means making your social media updates as important a task as writing your newsletter. Share the job amongst chosen people in the community (multiple users can log in to the same Facebook, Twitter and blog accounts). You could also try to someone on board from within the area who’s really into these social networking tools (teenagers often know a lot about this!)
2. Publicise your online spaces
   Don’t forget to tell people in the community that they should ‘like’ the Facebook page or ‘follow’ you on Twitter. Include the link on your printed newsletters, or on a relevant website, remind residents at meetings, drop it into conversation on doorsteps if people are hesitant to actually ‘sign up’ to anything – they might just have a look online and be inspired by what they see going on.
3. Try a range of social media tools
   You’ll learn that different people like different ways of communicating. You might find Facebook best for getting residents involved, whereas Twitter is better for networking across the country. Don’t necessarily stick to just one tool.
4. Create dialogue both ways
   While it’s up to several key people to lead on social media and post regular updates, they should be facilitating* the debates, rather than being the only voice. For example, Facebook posts should ask questions and encourage participation rather than simply project information one way.
5. Keep it visual
   Never underestimate the power of images. Facebook, blogs and Twitter can include photos. The last thing people want is to read too much text. Use photos to inspire people to get involved.

These tips were put together as part of the Planning Camp which took place in February 2012, arranged through the Building Community Consortium.

Get free advice and access inspirational case studies for your neighbourhood planning on the Eden Project website.

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New primary teacher training and staff development packages from Eden Project

Teachers probably know Eden best for the fantastic school trips we offer around the rainforest! But we also run a range of teacher training programmes and staff development packages to support primary school teachers in getting pupils back outside.

Drawing on our experience of teaching, garden design, horticulture and wild play, we can offer bespoke courses on encouraging outdoor learning and play, school grounds development and sustainable education. So now, as well as you coming to visit us, we can come to you.

More about our outdoor learning packages

We specialise in simple ideas that work and our aim is to help your school make the most of the resources available outside your classroom door. The idea is to explore different ways of learning rather than adding to your workload, and we aim to make the most of your own school’s outdoor opportunities as well as your own individual skills and creativity.

We cater for a range of needs, from a staff meeting, to full- or multi-day sessions, involving not only staff but pupils, parents and governors, if you’d like. We can run twilight sessions and introduce our thoughts on outdoor learning – or we can actually work with you over a few months to look at changing your whole school approach to the outdoors.

For example, we helped Parc Eglos School make better use of their woodland area, by running a den building session to inspire creative writing and storytelling.

Our project with Pensans Primary School was developed over the course of six months, where we worked with staff, pupils and parents who wanted to create ‘the best possible place for learning and play’. Staff have not only gained confidence in introducing outdoor learning opportunities, but the school is now introducing a rooftop growing space as well as a woodland.

What’s so special about outdoor learning and play?

On average, children today spend just 9% of their time outside; a lot less than previous generations. This change in lifestyle is affecting aspects of their wellbeing, including their cognitive skills, health, imagination and self esteem; all essential ingredients for a happy and successful young person. Why not take a step to make outdoor learning and play part of your daily school life?

How to book training or a staff development package

For more information and prices please have a look at our website.

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children, Design, Education, Horticulture, kids, Play, schools

Introducing… private guided tours at the Eden Project

These new private guided tours can help you make the most of your visit to Eden, whether you want to learn more about gardening, science, food, different cultures, or simply explore Eden behind the scenes.

Each lasting 90 minutes, our private guided tours for two make a great gift for a friend or loved one.

You can choose from four different themed private guided tours:

Rainforest Biome private guided tour
Explore the largest rainforest in captivity. Find out how rainforests keep us alive and how to help conserve them. Explore a smallholding that grows cocoa for chocolate, compare the Malaysian back garden to your own and look out for the huge trading ship.

Mediterranean Biome private guided tour
Experience sights, scents and stories from the Mediterranean, South Africa and California. Take a journey from olive groves to flowers born of fire, heavenly scents to fallen gods, cowboys to cork, ancient cultures to new futures.

Chocolate and chilli private guided tour
Cocoa trees, the source of chocolate, originally grew wild in Central and Latin America. The Aztecs and Mayans liked their cocoa brewed up with chillies – the original hot chocolate! Explore the Eden Project for this ‘food of the gods’ and its unlikely hot and spicy companion. Take your tastebuds on a journey from the Americas to West Africa as you discover a deliciously dark tale of conquest, love and trade, and turn up the heat in the chilli taste test.

Discover the science of Eden private guided tour
Join a senior member of our Science Team on a journey to explore the scientific philosophy of Eden and discover how we maintain the world’s largest collection of plants of use to mankind. Find out about how we do things like create soil and make compost, control the environment to promote plant growth, and manage pests and diseases. You’ll take away with you ideas for your own home or business.

Check out prices and times for these tours on our website

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Marbled chocolate tray bake recipe

Our chefs are cooking some delicious chocolate recipes – both sweet and savoury – for visitors to Eden to feast on at our Chocolate Jungle event this week. If you needed any encouragement to eat more chocolate, we’re sharing some recipes with you here on our Blog!

Try this tray bake recipe,  and let us know how it tastes!

Makes 15 squares

Ingredients

For the cake

• 200g self-raising flour
• 200g butter or margarine
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1½ tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 20g cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp milk

For the buttercream

• 100g butter
• 200g icing sugar
• 75g plain chocolate
• 50g white chocolate

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a 30cm x 20cm baking tin.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl.
• Add the butter, sugar and eggs and beat using an electric mixer until smooth and slightly lighter in colour.
• Beat in the vanilla.
• Mark the cake batter in half using a spatula and then dollop tablespoonfuls of half the vanilla mixture at regular intervals in the tin, leaving spaces between each one.
• With the remaining half of the batter, sift over the cocoa powder and beat in until well incorporated. Add the milk to slacken the mixture and mix well.
• Dollop tablespoonfuls of the chocolate mixture between the vanilla blobs in the tin.
• Take a skewer or thin-bladed knife and run it up and down through the mixture to swirl the two cake mixes together.
• Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until risen and springy to the touch.
• Leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.
• For the buttercream, beat the butter until soft and creamy.
• Sift over the icing sugar in two batches and beat well until smooth.
• Melt the dark chocolate, allow to cool for 10 minutes and then beat into the buttercream. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up.
• Spread the buttercream evenly over the top of the cake.
• Melt the white chocolate and place into a piping bag with a small nozzle.
• Drizzle the white chocolate over the top of the cake and leave to set before cutting into squares.

This recipe and the image above comes courtesy of Apple and Spice Blog.

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Where does chocolate come from?

As part of our festival of chocolate, cocoa grower Kouame Alphonse Fasseri from Africa’s Ivory Coast, tells us his part of the story – including how Fairtrade chocolate has made a difference to his daily life.

Kouame is a member of the 6,000-strong Kavokiva Fairtrade co-operative providing cocoa beans that are sent over to the UK to be turned into the final product. He’s his own boss, on a farm with nearly 3,000 trees, working six to seven days a week to produce one tonne of cocoa.

Kouame Alphonse Fasseri, member of Fairtrade cooperative, Kavokiva, who supply the cocoa for Nestle’s Fairtrade Kit Kat, holding a cocoa pod.

‘Growing cocoa is a dedicated process‘
‘It takes three years for a cocoa seedling to reach maturity and start producing a good crop. During that time we look after the young plants, removing dead leaves and making sure there are not weeds around them.

‘We plant other things too, like plantains, to give shade to the cocoa plants and help them grow better. It is also important that they get enough water, so we hope that the rain is good when it comes. Once the plant is mature, it may give a harvest until it is 25 – 30 years old.’

Cocoa pods harvested from the tree

‘My favourite part of the cocoa plant is the leaves‘
‘When there are many leaves, and the leaves look healthy, that means that the cocoa plant will grow well and produce a lot of cocoa beans. When you go to visit another farmer on his farm, the first thing you look at are the leaves on his cocoa plant, and you compliment him if they look good!’

‘The most satisfying part of being a farmer is seeing all the beans ready for export‘
‘When the cocoa pods are ripe, we cut them off the tree with a knife, then crack them open and take out the 40 or so beans inside. We ferment these, then we dry them, before they are taken to be packed and sent for export.’

A Kavokiva co-operative member preparing cocoa beans

‘I’ve eaten chocolate only a few times‘
‘Chocolate is not part of our culture, we don’t tend to buy it. But I have tasted chocolate: first in the Ivory Coast when some Fairtrade visitors brought it, and also during my visit to the UK. The children here eat cocoa beans. It is hard to describe the taste – it is not sweet, like you might imagine.’

‘Fairtrade has made a big difference to me‘
‘With Fairtrade I get a good price. I also receive part of the Fairtrade premium in cash, which is really useful for me to pay school fees and buy food. Before Fairtrade, we had no health centre. Many people were dying of hernias because they did not have enough money to pay for healthcare; farmers were pretending they were not ill and so leaving it too late for treatment.’

‘The co-operative ran an investigation into the cause and we voted to use the Fairtrade premium to build a health clinic. In the last two years, about 200 people have had this operation at the clinic, so many lives have been saved.’

Make a step for Fairtrade while you’re at Eden, for example by buying a Fairtrade chocolate bar in one of our shops on site. Then you can add it to the Fairtrade Foundation’s Step-o-meter; they’re aiming for 1.5 million steps for Fairtrade by the end of the year.

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Chocolate, Chocolate Jungle, fairtrade, Food, growing, society

Savoury chocolate recipe: borlotti bean mole with roasted winter vegetables

Our chefs will be cooking some delicious chocolate recipes – both sweet and savoury – for visitors to Eden to feast on at our Chocolate Jungle event this February half-term. If you needed any encouragement to eat more chocolate, we’re sharing some recipes with you here on our Blog!

Try this mole recipe,  and let us know how it tastes!

Borlotti bean mole with roasted winter vegetables

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 25ml olive oil
• 175g canned borlotti beans
• 1 medium-sized butternut squash
• 175g winter vegetables (carrots, leeks, celeriac, swede)
• 100g kale, roughly chopped
• 50g butter
• 100g onion, chopped
• 2–4 red jalapeno chillies, halved, seeded and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 500g tomatoes, chopped
• 25g paprika
• 25g almonds, dark roasted and finely ground
• 50g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
• 10g salt

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.
• Cut the squash flesh into good-sized chunks (about 2cm square), place them in a roasting pan and toss with olive oil.
• Roast them in the oven for about 15 minutes until caramelised on the outside but still firm.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 130C/250F/gas mark ½.
• Without removing the central stem, cut the kale across the leaf into 2cm slices.
• Melt the butter into an oven-proof casserole dish (pot) and fry the onion and chillies gently over a low to medium heat for 20–30 minutes, until caramelised.
• Add the garlic and fry for three minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and paprika, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
• Add the ground almonds, chocolate, carrots, leeks, celeriac, swede, borlotti beans, kale, and a teaspoon of salt.
• Stir until the chocolate has melted.
• Cover the casserole and put it in the oven to cook gently for two hours.

This recipe and the image above comes courtesy of Blue Egg Kitchen.

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Should we all be eating chocolate for breakfast?

Kieran Renihan, who set up raw chocolate company Chocolution, explains how healthy chocolate can be, and why we should all be eating it for breakfast. He also offers you the chance to win a free chocolate making kit.

Most of us feel like we should cut back on chocolate; that it’s not healthy. But actually, cocoa – the key ingredient in chocolate – is really, really good for you.

Cocoa comes from the beans of a small, tropical, evergreen tree, which are then fermented and roasted before they’re made into the sweet delicacy we know. Medical studies have shown that the antioxidants it contains are associated with a substantial reduction in the risk of heart disorders.

The chocolate I grew up on, however, was highly processed, low in cocoa content (12% – 34%) and high in fat and refined sugar. In the UK three in five of us eat this type of chocolate most of the time – and it’s this sort of thing we’re not meant to eat too much of.

You see, as with most things, chocolate should be about quality versus quantity.

My favourite type of chocolate is raw chocolate, minimally processed, with 70% cocoa and sweetened with agave nectar from the tequila cactus. It is the best breakfast food ever; uplifting, full of energy and vitality.

Did you know that cocoa contains compounds like anandamide, known as ‘the bliss chemical’ for its effect on mood, and phenylethylamine, which is released when you’re in love? While unsweetened raw cocoa is very bitter, eating it is like nothing else on earth – I heartily recommend trying it.

I believe that if we start to understand what chocolate really is, we can renew our relationship with it and start respecting, rather than ‘abusing’, it.

That’s exactly what we’re trying to do through The Chocolution. Our raw chocolate making kits are designed to help people, from school kids to foodies, learn about the ingredients that go into chocolate – and give them the opportunity to make their own healthy chocolate bars.

If you’d like to taste raw chocolate and have a go at making your own, at Eden’s Chocolate Jungle festival, keep an eye on the full event listing.

Or, if you’d like to get your hands on a chocolate kit for yourself, why not enter our competition? We’ve got five Eat Dark kits to give away, each containing the ingredients to make your own dairy-free, sugar-free chocolate bar, complete with a mould to shape it and agave nectar to sweeten it.

How to enter the competition

To win a kit, follow these two steps:

1. Finish this sentence in no more than 128 characters (including spaces): ‘What I love about chocolate is…’
2. Submit your entry by the end of Sunday 19 February 2012, via:

a. Twitter using the hashtag #chocjungle together with your 128 characters – e.g: #chocjungle because it makes me feel so much better after a hard day at work and it’s not actually that bad for you at all. It’s tasty too.

b. The comment facility below this blog story.

Prize draw terms and conditions

• Entry is free. One entry per household.
• Eden Team members will pick their favourite top five entries to receive the prizes as detailed above.
• The prizes are non-refundable, non-transferable and subject to availability. No alternative prize will be offered and there is no cash alternative.
• The draw is not open to employees of The Eden Project, their families, its agents or anyone professionally connected with the prize draw.
• All entries must be received by midnight on 19 February 2012. The winner will be notified by email or Twitter after the closing date.
• By entering this competition you are giving the Eden Project permission to contact you at a future date. You can subscribe from this service at any time.
• Prize draw open to all UK residents. Entrants must be over 16 years of age.

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• Food

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Eden supports creative craft programme for schools

At Eden we’re firm believers in using our imagination to turn something old into something wonderful and new; after all, we did turn an old clay pit into a global garden! In this spirit, we’re supporting Start Imagining, an exciting new creative craft programme for school children that is encouraging kids to learn how to make new objects from junk and reclaimed materials, and to set up craft clubs at school.

This programme for primary and secondary schools is designed to stimulate young people to create arts and crafts from scrap as a way of teaching them about materials reuse.

Competition: build a model boat

School children can use their upcycling skills in a new competition launched by Start Imagining. They simply have to transform reclaimed materials into a model boat in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The winning team will get a trip to London to see their boats, which will be exhibited at the Old Royal Naval College throughout June.

Check out the Start Imagining website for more info on the competition and to download resource packs

Follow Start Imagining on Twitter for the latest news, or join the Start Imagining community on Facebook.

The WEEE Man at Eden

The WEEE Man sculpture is an example of how we’ve got creative with waste at Eden. He’s a 3.3-tonne structure that represents the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) the average British household throws away in a lifetime. Find out more about the WEEE Man.

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Art, Creativity, Education, Recycling and waste

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