
(by Helen Stratford) I am the creative producer for this community day based at the school on 24th / 25th March (timetable here) and have been working closely with the staff at the school and the CCI team to shape these 24 hours of wild adventuring for all the community.
The day will focus on re-discovering and mapping the school grounds and neighbouring Millennium Green. We have dreaming up all sorts of playful invitations that can invite everyone to spend time in these spaces and see them differently. The day builds on the residency with artist Deb Wilenski, supported by the Fantastical Cambridgeshire Illustrator Elena Arévalo Melville. This has been exploring the school orchard and Millenium Green through the children’s interests in sound, animals, plants and what happens on their school’s grounds at night.
On Friday afternoon and evening local moth expert and school governor Gareth Rondel will be helping set moth, bat and small mammal traps alongside offering the chance to see animal star constellations in the sky (weather depending). Also on Friday there will be den making in the school orchard and over-night sand experiments in the playground to track footprints of night time activity.
On Saturday there will be maps and messages from the school children inviting new visitors to explore the orchard and Millenium Green in surprising ways. You can visit the outside Tent of Sounds and the inside Dusk to Dark Sound Space to hear and draw day and night time recorded sounds by the children and acoustic engineer William Searle or make a periscope to see the spaces of the school in an entirely new light.
Alongside these drop in events, local artist Colette Kinley will be drawing and detecting from traps and tracks in the sand and running miniature nature garden making. We are also delighted that colleagues from St Neots Museum will be leading Extraordinary Stories & Objects walks and running a Mystery Object Table – so please bring along any artefacts to be identified.
The day will be documented through a series of short films and interviews with the children and community.
In between all these amazing activities there will be free tea, cake - by the wonderful charity Free Cakes For Kids, and breakfast butties from 10am to 12 noon by OPTA (Offord Parent Teacher Association) to fuel the adventuring!
Free. All welcome. No skills necessary. Please note all children must be accompanied. No booking required. All activities are based in the School or start from the School grounds.
Detailed timings are:
Friday 24th March (2pm – 7.30pm)
Signs of night-time life - discover which animals visit the school orchards and grounds:
Join in anytime between 2pm and 7.30pm. We will be working with all the children in the school from 2pm – 3.15pm to begin making dens and laying pitfall traps in the school orchard & grounds. Stay on as a family and add your own experiments whilst enjoying free refreshments. Then from 6:15pm - 7:30pm, join us to help local moth expert and school governor Gareth Rondel collects moths, lay small animal traps and see if we can detect any bats both in the school grounds and over at Millenium Green.
Saturday 25th March (10am - 2pm)
Check out our timed activities:
10am – 12pm Detecting and drawing – join us to look at the pitfall/small mammal traps set the night before, detect bugs and draw your discoveries.
12 noon - 2pm Tiny spaces of wonder – create your own miniature nature gardens using found objects
11am & 1pm Extraordinary story walks with St Neots Museum – based in the local area & approximately 30mins long
Or drop throughout the day to visit: Tent of sounds from wild Cambridgeshire.....Dusk to dawn sound space.....Table of making...Messages and maps for the Millenium Green....Mystery object table with St Neots Museum
In between all these amazing activities there will be free tea, cake - by the wonderful charity Free Cakes For Kids, and breakfast butties from 10am to 12 noon by OPTA (Offord Parent Teacher Association) to fuel the adventuring!
For map links click here.