Ah, the final taper before the marathon… the joys of not training and just chilling out!  Well that’s the idea anyway but having committed to my neighbour Jill (see Life’s a Beach &  Real Toy Stories and Tantrums) back in the summer that we should use the IBM On Demand Community Challenge framework to get a team of volunteers together to help revitalise the local School’s eco garden, I had to follow through… its a shame it was the Thursday before the marathon – poor planning on my part!

Anyway, I managed to put in a full digging shift and only slightly strained my right thigh! Result!

Here’s the article we sent to the local paper and the photos from the dig!

Thursday 26^th September 2013:  Neilston Primary – Eco Garden

The Volunteer Team consisted of people from:

• IBM
• Support Our School
• Neilston Development Trust
• William Tracey
• Parents
• Children Eco Committee

It was all organised, the only thing that could have dampened the spirits was the weather. Imagine our surprise and delight when it turned out a dry crisp autumn day!

All helpers were given a motivational talk by Rosemary Crossan, Principle teacher and the children from the Eco Committee.  Each committee member had been selected by their fellow pupils by being voted in or by giving a presentation on why they should be part of the committee.  Pupils showed awareness of environmental issues faced by the school and in today’s society, including the importance of recycling, fair trade, litter picking and support the Green Flag award scheme.

Between the motivation for the children and the £200 donated by IBM and the free skip hire from William Tracey,  the volunteers got dug in!  Children, excused from classes, came and helped the volunteers from the Support Our School, Neilston Development Trust, Parents and IBM.   Volunteers had made a really good start on clearing the weeds and digging over the ground and then enjoyed a school dinner courtesy of the dinner ladies.

Making quick progress the team of volunteers managed to dig over a second area dedicated to bird preservation before the children came and planted new grass seed and hung bird feeders.

A big thank you to IBM for their £200 donation towards bird feeders, seeds and bulbs that the children selected.

Before (area 1)

Before (area 2)

During

During

During

During

After