Shirley youngsters explore new special garden thanks to Prince's Trust - The Solihull Observer

Shirley youngsters explore new special garden thanks to Prince's Trust

Solihull Editorial 6th Dec, 2015 Updated: 21st Oct, 2016   0

A SPECIAL garden equipped with a mud kitchen and bird hide has been unveiled at a Shirley school thanks to volunteers from the Prince’s Trust.

Youngsters from Cranmore Infant School were able to explore their forest school for the time this week.

Prince’s Trust team 160 at Solihull College and University Centre can finally enjoy the fruit of their labours after working hard to raise the funds needed to enhance the conservation area.

The group raised more than £411 with a sponsored swim, a bag packing day in Tesco and a charity car wash at Solihull College.




This was then put together with £560 worth of materials generously donated by EH Smith Builders Merchants Charitable Trust and a further £120 raised by a cake sale held at Cranmore Infant School.

The team of 12 young adults worked hard, doing things such as clearing brambles and painting fences, to get the garden ready for the grand opening last Tuesday (November 3), which was attended by the mayor of Solihull.


The Prince’s Trust programme supports those who are unemployed or are not in education to develop their skills whilst working as a team in the community. The students improve their leadership and employability skills by taking responsibility for fundraising activities, community projects and exciting challenges.

Many of the young people said they had developed their confidence, improved their communication and team work abilities and had learnt many new life skills.

Kieran Scott, a team member on the programme, pitched the original idea.

He said: “I was really passionate about this project as I wanted to give the children the chance to be children and have somewhere where they could play and be care free.

“Everyone can remember how it felt to be care free as a child and we wanted to provide that for these children.”

Mandip Singh Ahluwalia, who was also apart of the team, added: “It’s great to show how well we’ve done, show the blood, sweat and tears that went into the project and see all our hard work has paid off.”

The team have now started on the next stage of their programme which involves a two week work placement at a variety of employers.

Visit www.solihull.ac.uk for more.

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