The Harehope Quarry Project offers environmental education, field studies, rural skills training, community development, and community arts based from a limestone quarry in the North Pennines.
08th Jun 2010
Blessed John Duckett Primary School, from Tow Law, celebrated Earth Day at Harehope Quarry with support from Northumbrian Water Limited. Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator, Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. In the United States Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
Children from Blessed John Duckett Primary School celebrated the day with a range of activities. The younger children marked the end of winter and the start of spring by making natural sculptures, looking for signs of spring and making globes and masks to take home. In the afternoon they went on a story walk. The older children did a range of activities relating to water with Pam Lovell from Northumbrian water. They looked at their good and bad water habits, re-created the water cycle and investigated how clean the Bollihope Burn was. Later they either learnt about climate change and raced solar boats or built dens as part of an activity to show how our ancestors were dependant on their local environemnt to survive.
Head Teacher, Sharon McQuiggin, said The children thoroughly enjoyed the day and are now much more aware of how fragile our Earth is and the need for them to play a role in protecting it. The Harehope Quarry Project hopes to repeat the activities again next year!