Plastic Bottle Greenhouse at Mayfield Primary
Posted: Monday, 26th November 2007, 1:40 pm
Mayfield Primary school in North Ayrshire recently raised its Eco Flag and opened a memorial garden to their late Janitor Charlie Mulholland, at its centre is a new greenhouse made from 1500 plastic bottles.
The achievements represent a huge effort on behalf of the pupils, staff and parents, the wider community and commercial organisations – and many of them attending the opening to see the fruits of their labours.
Members of the late Charlie Mulholland's family were there – he was Janitor for 13 years and loved gardening so the school thought it only fitting to create a memorial garden at the school entrance. For the garden Harte Construction donated large boulders, the Community Wardens brought soil, B&Q gave a tree, Tesco made a donation and Coop Funeral Services donated a plaque to be unveiled on Thursday by Head Teacher Lin Denny.
Work for the Eco Flag started in 2005 and all the pupils have been involved in this. Chair of the Pupil Council Lorrissa Speirs (P7) unfurled the Eco flag. Eight topics have been worked through including activities like the Walking Bus, keeping the school litter-free, having Eco fun days to raise awareness about the importance of being Eco-friendly and developing the school grounds which British Nuclear (Hunterston B) agreed to sponsor this to the tune of £2,500. Alyson Russell of Hunterston B was there to formally open the Plastic Bottle Greenhouse.
The Greenhouse is the first of its kind in North Ayrshire. In March the BIG collection started and by August well over 1500 bottles had been collected. Pupils set up a rota for bottle washing and removing caps and labels and staff stored the bottles at home. The frame was built and all pupils took turns to build 'bottle bricks'. With help from Spirit Aerosystems (Prestwick) the Greenhouse was completed and the school can look forward to planting and growing things.
Speaking about the school's achievements, Head Teacher Lin Denny said:
"I am really delighted that the school has gained the Eco-School Green Flag Award – our pupils have worked hard and had a great time in the process. The Eco Committee, under the guidance of Mrs Meney and Mrs Trewin, should be very proud of this achievement.
"We continue to work on recycling and having built the recycled plastic bottle greenhouse, the pupils and staff are looking forward to growing our own plants."
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We would love to hear from folks who are trying this out.
To: DENNIS COONS - just make sure you don't live in an area where water can freeze as it would burst your bottles.
Thanks
John
We cannot offer professional advice on building regulations, though we would rather agree with your fire officer's assessment. Think of it as a shed, not a venue.