The Worm Carnival

What do you do when 95% of the local community surveyed don't want a green space built on but the council have already decided to put new housing there? You start a campaign. That is just what Douglas Peacock did back in 2008. A massive clean up job was started with around 30 volunteers removing over 60 bags of rubbish, broken glass, needles, old sofas etc. It's hard to imagine all these years later because the Children's Wood and Meadow is one of the most stunning wild places to visit in the city of Glasgow. Along with other community created green spaces such as the Woodlands Community Garden it is a place we regularly visit for fun activities and for my son to play, relax and learn about nature.

We moved back to Glasgow last August and I now get really excited about the West End Festival events that are held here because they are so much fun! Last weekend we cycled to the Worm Carnival. I always make a bee line for the healthy barbecue food, then it's straight to the cake table. I don't eat cakes very often and I don't have time to bake so it's a treat to sample some of the delicious delights created by local children and adults for the baking competition. I've never had rhubarb meringue tart before. It was amazing. James Morton who was the runner up in The Great British Bake Off t.v. show came along to judge the entries: lucky guy!

We watched award winning Eco Drama Company perform "The Worm - An Underground Adventure" which was very funny. There was an up-cycling bird box activity, face painting and a pop up cafe run by Garrioch Roots. My son and I did a nature hunt together. We had a list of items we had to find around the meadow such as 6 different kinds of leaves. In one overgrown area of long grasses there are some barrel raised beds full of summer herbs, veg and a few weeds. It is the sort of area you don't see in parks because it looks 'messy'. But I couldn't see a single pest anywhere, everything was incredibly healthy and strong. This is an example of a balanced eco system where predator and pest are in equal amounts therefore no harmful chemicals need to be sprayed. The bees and butterflies, whose numbers are reducing at a shocking rate, were loving the large patch of clover. We saw lots of red-tailed bumble bees: Bombus lapidarius along with the better know yellow striped bumble bee: Bombus hortorum. We really enjoyed doing the nature hunt and it meant we had a tour around the whole site and were able to see so many amazing things in each of the different areas as well as stopping to chat to people, "isn't it great how you meet so many people when you come here" said a new friend.

It can cost a fortune finding entertainment for children and with the ongoing austerity and economic downturn having an affect on us all, this event and the many others you can attend here for free keep families happy with no cost to the council.  The local schools are now benefitting by having a space to grow vegetables and take part in outdoor learning activities, which the Scottish Government has been promoting for some time. This has been and continues to be an excellently run campaign; thank you to everyone involved. It is the love and commitment of the local community and everyone who visits that makes the Children's Wood and Meadow a unique and special place in the city. That is worth preserving.

Support the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign!
A lovely blog about Urban Pollinators

School Outdoor Learning: Spring.

Planting alpine plug plants. 

Upcycled pallet and plastic bottle planter and planting in the wall.

Wall planted with alpine plug plants. 

Using pegs to represent bird's beaks. 

Nest building. 

Became land art. 

Making the most of the school grounds. 

I have been volunteering every fortnight for a couple of hours to help Primary Five with outdoor learning at my son's school. Sarah from Woodlands Community Garden is funded by a grant to plan and deliver the activities. The children have created a recycled plastic bottle and pallet planter which they painted a couple of weeks ago. This week they planted some cuttings in it. It stands against a wall that is used for access to one of the playgrounds. The wall being made of rocks held in place with mesh is a perfect spot for planting some alpine plug plants which the children really enjoyed doing. In fact they have been so enthusiastic about all the activities. As well as planting and learning about plants the children made nests. They used wooden clothes pegs to pick up twigs and other materials. The pegs were a clever way of demonstrating how the birds use their beaks. It was lovely to see the children carefully arranging the things they found to create visually pleasing designs. They looked guilty as though they were cheating when they started to use their hands to collect more items such as stones, which were to represent eggs. The collection of different textures and colours of natural materials and the design of the nest became more important to them. So without instruction the children had turned a nest building activity into a land art activity. There are more ideas for making land art with kids by Richard Shilling and Julia Brooklyn here. Outdoor learning provides an opportunity for children to work spontaneously, break the rules and discover new, pleasing results on their own as well as being good for physical and mental health.