MORE than £400 was raised at Chadsgrove College’s fun-filled annual summer fete last Wednesday.
Students planned and promoted the event, working on stalls with the assistance of staff. The cash raised will now be invested into future projects and activities.
Attendees tried their luck on the tombola, ‘guess the weight of the cake’ and ‘name the panda’ and visited jewellery, plant and garden accessory stalls.
Court Leet Bellman and Town Crier Kevin Ward, Ealdorman Jo Slade and Bromsgrove District Council chairman, Coun Sam Ammar, officially opened proceedings.
Students also shared the progress on their garden project for which they recently won the prestigious Natspec Award for Innovation in Student Voice.
The garden venture began after students shared their interest in assisting others in their local community.
Work is underway on the garden after the school received an award for its fundraising. Picture by Marcus Mingins 2723013MMR www.buyphotos247.com
After volunteering at St Basil’s Cafe in Charford and supporting the Catshill Foodbank, students realised they enjoyed helping others and decided to utilise their outside space to grow vegetables for community projects.
The space is also fully accessible for students to enjoy and hold events.
A small section of the garden was revamped last summer thanks to charitable support from Kevin Patch and his Severn Trent Water team.
This inspired students to start fund-raising to develop the main garden area.
With support from business manager Hayley Jepson, a fund-raising page was set up on the Spacehive community platform and students planned, directed and produced a marketing video to promote their cause.
They won the Natspec award, earning praise for promoting self-advocacy, active citizenship and community inclusion for independence in adulthood.
The newly created accessible community garden is due to be completed by the end of July with an official opening planned for next academic year.
