Environmental Education

It’s often being said that we need to take better care of our environment and ensure that the next generation grow up knowing about and caring for nature, and most would agree this is the case. But how do we provide this information in a practical way? Environmental education is a key factor in preserving and cultivating the nature around us, and Milton Keynes is on the way to creating something which will hopefully enable this in a big way.

A £500,000 environmental education and visitor centre is currently being built in Howe Park Wood, Milton Keynes, and is set to open in October. The centre will contain classrooms, meeting rooms, an outside decked area and new pond dipping platforms. Set in a beautiful ancient woodland setting, the centre will provide some key steps towards conservation and will help to teach children and adults alike about nearby wildlife and nature and how to help preserve it. Bird and bat boxes will be situated throughout the woodland and boxes for plants and insect homes will also be built. The centre will incorporate low carbon technologies in order to make it even more environmentally friendly, including an air source heat pump and solar panels. This is set to be a great resource for the community, and will hopefully play a big part in helping educate many about nature and how to take care of it.

Earls Barton Rally and Country Fayre

This weekend is the Earls Barton Rally and Country Fayre, an annual event which has a great turnout each year. Running from Friday 23rd through to Monday 25th, there's a great variety of events and activities to get involved in.

There will be:

• Galloping acrobatics in the main ring
• The annual vintage auction on Sunday
• Vintage vehicles and threshing display
• Birds of Prey
• Ferret racing
• Northants archive cinema
• Viking village
• Punch and Judy
• Sheridan the Sheep Dog
• Over 100 craft and trade stalls
• Refreshments and real ale tent
• Fairground
• Entertainment, including music from the Wellingborough band on Monday... and more!

It's a very varied event, and there's definitely something for all the family to get involved with and enjoy. 

The fayre will be open 9am-5pm each day, and tickets cost £8 for adults and £5 for children, or £20 for a family of four, don't miss out!

Scotland host their biggest ever sporting event: The Commonwealth Games 2014

Then:

The Commonwealth games was originally known as the 'British Empire Games' and began in 1930, with 11 nations competing. The idea of a competition bringing together the members of the British Empire was started by John Astley Cooper 1891, who proposed a fishing competition, saying that there should be a  "Pan-Britannic-Pan-Anglican Contest and Festival every four years as a means of increasing goodwill and good understanding of the British Empire" The first British Empire Games was held in Canada in 1930, and then the games were interrupted by the Second World War and so the four-yearly schedule was paused until it was revived in 1950 and re-named the British Empire and Commonweath Games in 1954. By 1958 over 30 teams were involved, with over 1000 athletes in total.

Now:

The Commonwealth Games today is a multi-sport event, which involves athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations (which contains 53 countries) and involves around 17 different sports. This year's Commonwealth Games is, as you probably already know, being held in Glasgow, and is the largest multi-sport event to ever be held in Scotland, with approximately 4950 athletes talking part from 71 different nations. The event runs for 11 days, and can be watched live on BBC1 and BBC3, and the closing ceremony takes place on the 3rd August. After making the World Cup a bit of a sore point, do you think  England will do better in the Commonwealth Games?!


Described as a proud and fun opening, Scotland kicked off the games well last week. If you missed it, catch the opening ceremony highlight here: