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Kiddi Caru Day Nurseries Group Gruffalo Book Week The children, at Kiddi Caru Day Nurseries Group across Leicester, took a stroll through the deep dark wood this week to celebrate one of their favourite stories, ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson, as part of the Kiddi Caru Day Nurseries Book Week.
Grab A Tree For Free As Part Of 10th Anniversary Celebrations A scheme that has helped to plant almost 75,000 trees in North West Leicestershire is celebrating its 10th anniversary. North West Leicestershire District Council works in partnership with The National Forest and HK Wentworth Ltd to make thousands of free trees available to all residents and community groups in the district every year. To mark the special anniversary NWLDC has been collecting pictures of free trees that have been planted by residents from all corners of the district over the last 10 years. A display of these can be seen at the council offices reception in Coalville. The Free Tree Scheme has been running annually since 2008 and has given out 74,042 trees over that time. More than 16,000 of those were given to residents and groups last year alone. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the scheme a special commemorative Wild Service Tree is also available to order for residents living within the National Forest only, in addition to four other varieties. Alan Edwards was the recipient of a free rowan tree in 2013. He said: “It was only 12 inches tall when it went into the ground but now it is nearly seven foot tall! It enjoys a lovely sunny spot at the top of our front garden and when it is fully grown, it will be visible the full length of our street. This year, as you can see from the photo, it has developed berries so I assume that it is now a mature tree.” Five different types of trees are available this year: Rowan Crab Apple Bird Cherry Alder Buckthorn Wild Service (for those living in the National Forest) The trees are approximately 60cm – 90cm (two to three feet high) when they are collected and come with a guide on how to look after them properly. Community groups such as environmental groups, allotment societies and wildlife groups can access a larger number of trees.
The nursery practitioners turned their nurseries onto the deep dark wood for the children to walk through and re-tell the story, whilst hunting for the Gruffalo. The little ones dressed as their favourite characters and decorated masks and created a large-scale Gruffalo as part of their Gruffalo themed arts and crafts activities. We saw a mouse, fox, snake, owl and Gruffalo, and they all looked good! The little ones enjoyed messy play and sensory activities with natural resources including grass, bark, branches, mud, water and scented play dough with the Gruffalo characters. The babies particularly loved this activity as they explored different textures and temperatures to help develop their fine motor skills. The pre-school rooms learnt about the different animals in the book and practised moving like the animals in the book in their music and movement activities, such as slithering like a snake and flapping their arms like the wings of an owl. All the nurseries enjoyed decorating cookies and eating Gruffalo crumble for their pudding – with apples and blackberries of course, no Gruffalo’s were harmed in the baking!
Lights of Love 2018 4pm Sunday 2nd December Ferrers Centre Staunton Harold
Running at the same time is the council’s Hedge Fund where landowners, local groups and local schools can plant new hedges. The offer includes up to 30 metres of a mix of hawthorn and hazel hedging. Applications for free trees opened on Monday 1st October and will close on Friday 26th October. Councillor Alison Smith MBE, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Community Services at North West Leicestershire District Council, said: “I’m incredibly proud of this scheme and that so many residents have got involved over the last 10 years and planted new young trees. Each year our already beautiful district gets greener thanks to this scheme and the support it receives from people in the community. It’s incredibly important we look after the National Forest and our district as a whole, and getting everyone involved in planting trees is a great way of doing this.” People can find more information and submit their applications online at www. nwleics.gov.uk/freetreescheme2018 Residents that apply for a free tree must be available for collect it on Sunday 19th November.
Make a dedication in memory of a loved one this Christmas at our annual ‘Lights of Love’ service For more details please see our Facebook page or www.hospicehope.org.uk Charitable Incorporated Organisation No. 1169561