A tyre is just a tyre - right?

So the brick planter thing has a new lease of life. So what next?

The following winter bought about lots of change at school and I put to the new headteacher an idea I had to do something with the rest of the front area of the school and if it would be ok to have an afterschool gardening club. She agreed whole heartedly.
I will always be grateful for her support and encouragement because ideas are just ideas unless someone believes in you enough to make those ideas come to life.
Suddenly what had started out as a bug bear was turning into a real project!
I had no budget, no real idea what to do next and if anyone would want to help me!
Then fate lent a little hand in the form of a slow puncture. Yes you read right. A slow puncture.
So there I was standing by the entrance watching my little car have her wheel replaced and as I look to my left, there it was, the next project. After explaining what I had in mind, the man at the tyre place was happy to give us as many used tyres as we needed. Now all I needed was to get them back to school and get them cleaned!
The question was could I do this on my own? This I doubted very much, but to my surprise when I mentioned this to a few mum's they enthusiastically offered to help.

So, half term arrived and so did the tyres and decking and shingle and paint and bricks and pallets and lots of other stuff!!!! And so did a small army of children and their parents and what fun we had. Well, the kids had far more fun than the parents to be fair.

And that's where the tyre planters came to life.

What did I learn that day? If you tell children to get messy, to make mess, they seem to be quite cautious to actually do it. Once they get going - they are brilliant tyre washers. So now I have clean tyres and dirty children, happy, dirty children I should point out.

After trailing Pinterest for hours the once grubby plain tyres where transformed.

So how much did these cost? A project no matter how big or small is always about the cost.

Tyres - FREE. Thank you Loughton Tyres, Langston Road, Loughton, IG10. http;//www.loughtontyresltd.co.uk

Paint - FREE. Thank you Wickes, Langston Road, Loughton IG10 3TQ. Thank you Feraz and Kerrie.

http;//wickes.co.uk

Soil - FREE. Thank you Epping Building Supplied.

http'//eppingpavingandbuildingsupplies.co.uk

And finally the plants - FREE. Thank you to Trish the community champion at Tesco, Southend Road and to David at Wyevale, Enfield. http;//wyevalegardencentres.co.uk Enfield Branch.

Total cost - NIL

Total impact - 100% - the children love them.

They are sought after areas to be looked after by the gardening club members and make for a very inviting entrance to the school gardens.

Of course the question was, what next?

You can follow us on twitter @Thewellywizards - A school gardening group on an epic adventure.

A shout out for brick planter fairies

Wanted to have a shout out for the two lovely ladies who sponsored the brick planter.

Leah van Zyl - a brilliant photographer, for all occasions.
http://www.leahvanzyl.com/contact.html

POPDANCE - brilliant holiday camps, full of fun and of course a finale of a show! 

https://popdance.co.uk/
This summer holidays dates are now available
Contact Rachel - rachel@popdance.co.uk

Changing things that bug you - can make such a difference!

Some things you walk past every day and they bug you!

Simple as that. It could be a fence panel on the way to work that just doesn't sit right. It could be that the post box by the station faces away from you as you walk up to it. It could be a million and one silly little things that you have no control over, yet they really, really, bug you.

This was the case at my daughters school. Everyday at the front of the school I passed a brick, square planter type thing. It had obviously been some project done by previous pupils. It was just what I say it was, a brick planter thing. As such, all that was happening with it was that rubbish was flying into it and it just, bugged me. 

I didn't do anything to change it so that it wouldn't bug me for the whole year my daughter was in reception. I didn't do anything for the winter term that she was in year one. The spring term seemed to overwhelm me. I just couldn't stand it any more. Literally, I couldn't stand it! 

But what do you do about these things? 

Not really my problem is it?

Not really any of my business to be perfectly honest. Wasn't complaining about something that bugged me, a little childish to say the least!

There had to be a sensible solution to this silly, petty, pointless problem that was causing me such angst. 

One day my brain just popped. As I walked past the headmaster on the way to class I was overwhelmed by the need to do something. "Good morning" I said all smiley and cheerful. "Could I talk to you about the brick planter at the front, if you have time".

Now most parents I guess would be asking about their child's reading ability. New uniform issues. The next school trip. No, not me I wanted to talk about a planter. Graciously he listened as I shared my irritation about this odd square area. I put it to him that if I could get a few people to sponsor it, just enough to buy flowers, would that be ok? I held my breath thinking was his answer going to be something along the lines of "are you for real, there are children who come to school without having had a nutritious breakfast and all your worried about is a pile of bricks" but to my surprise he was delighted and said if I could do that then go ahead. 

Yes.... A solution. 

Oh blimey, I realised I needed to find people to sponsor it, where did I start with that one? Would people want to help out? I could only ask was the attitude I would take with this one. If you don't ask you don't know as my dad would say. So I asked around. Two fabulous friends who had their own businesses thought it was a lovely idea and I ended up with enough money to plant up the brick planter and re do the two straggly hanging baskets. 

Doesn't sound a lot does it, but that was the start of an amazing, ongoing journey that has shown me what people can do if they work together and most of all laugh together. Highly appropriate when people say, from small acorns big oaks grow. That planter now makes me smile every day I pass it. It's bricks, so it has no emotion I know, but it's responsible for so much more than just letting daffodils grow in it! 

This blog is the story of our school gardening project. The story of how people giving a little  of their time can achieve big things. I hope, that as you read about our story, it may inspire you to do a little something in the knowledge that it could be achieving something huge! 

Of course the brick planter has to have a story, doesn't it? Maybe that's for another day.
So big thanks go today to the wonderfully talented Leah Van Zyl and uber creative Rachel Le Moeligou, without them the pile bricks wouldn't have bloomed.
https://popdance.co.uk
http://www.leahvanzyl.com