Recently we were delighted to accept assistance around the school grounds from a team of Royal Navy volunteers.
The team consisted of serving ranks who were on a course in HMNB Devonport. At this point in the military course, they were asked to source some local community work, which would then demonstrate leadership, teamwork and organizational skills.
Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, we immediately accepted the offer from them to work here and they did not disappoint. In fact, for a team of young men who are more at home beneath the seas in submarines, they excelled as temporary land loving gardeners.
They worked tirelessly over the two day period and accomplished so much work for us around the school. Some of the work involved areas that needed immediate attention, such as strimming the grass around the pump track and hedge trimming along our pathways. Other work was more in the style of project work or tasks that are normally only possible in school holidays, such as rebuilding an existing compost area, building a new compost area and power washing the MUGA area clear of moss.
It is no exaggeration to say that, what they achieved in two days, would have taken us weeks to complete.
Work carried out was,
Strim the grass alongside the pump track
Hedge trim from top gate to upper polytunnel
Rebuild compost area next to bees
Strim grass in goal mouths
Hedge trim by chickens
Build new compost area by MUGA
Power wash MUGA surface
Remove tree growing on the bank of the pond
Remove brambles growing on the bank of the pond
They even repaired a bike too!
They were very respectful around the school and and worked to an extremely high professional standard - they are a credit to the Armed Forces.