School Children Enjoy a Taste of the Countryside
Thousands of schoolchildren from across the region enjoyed the sights and sounds
of the countryside when they visited the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s annual
Countryside Days this week (11 and 12 June).
Youngsters from as far afield as Pontefract, Wakefield, Scarborough and Helmsley
descended on the Great Yorkshire Showground for two days of fun and learning.
During the event, 5,200 children took part in a wide range of activities and
enjoyed dozens of demonstrations aimed at increasing their knowledge about the
countryside and farming, where food comes from, and the vital role farmers play
in putting food on their plates.
More than 80 different workshops were on offer to the Key Stage 2 children which
included fly fishing, bread making, cheese grading and cow milking.
Hazel Baker, Education Adviser at the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, said the
event had been a resounding success.
“The Countryside Days ran very smoothly and we have had so many positive comments
from schools, who are already wanting to put their names down for next year. For
me, one of the highlights was the Farm Animal Arena where we had cows, bulls,
sheep and pigs – it’s a great opportunity for children to get the chance to see
large animals up close. And all the work shops are really hands-on, which is what
makes them so popular with the children,” she said.
New for 2008 was a display of working gundogs from Patanavac Gundogs based at
Whitby and the College of Animal Welfare at Mirfield, West Yorkshire, who were
offering advice on how to care for animals and pets.
There were also opportunities for youngsters to learn about recycling and composting
from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and Stockbridge Technology
Centre Ltd, who gave lessons in how to plant bedding plants.
The Countryside Days also offer children a chance to win equipment for their
schools – this year pupils attending the two-day event created a model of a butterfly
or moth using recycled or waste materials – the best entries on both days won
a 6ft garden bench for their school. St Robert’s Primary School, Harrogate was
the winner on the first day with Topcliffe CE Primary School taking the honours
on Thursday.
Three separate arenas played host to a range of exciting displays ranging from
sheep shearing demonstrations and parades of cattle through to sheepdogs in action
rounding up ducks, geese and ducklings.
Mrs Jane Moretti, Learning Mentor at Ingrow Primary School at Keighley said Countryside
Days was one of the highlights in their school calendar and the school had visited
the event on both days.
“We really had two wonderful days – the event is so well organised and the children
love every minute of it. There are so many different aspects to the show, but
for our children the highlights included fly fishing, which they thought was great
fun, and the National Railway Museum’s stand, which was a hands-on science lesson
– it was great,” she said.
“We also came back to school with potatoes and strawberry plants to put in the
playground – it really was a super day,” she said.
Terry Wilcock and owl with Javier Ballester and Rachel Wade of St Roberts School
Harrogate