HMS Collingwood trainees go back to school

A group of Phase 2 trainees from HMS Collingwood went back to school recently to help prepare a garden ahead of a BBC visit.

Wicor Primary School in Fareham prides itself on its community gardens which have now been recognised by the BBC who featured them in an edition of Gardeners’ World aired on BBC2 on 2^nd June and now available on iPlayer.

The school requested assistance from HMS Collingwood to help prepare the gardens ahead of the filming and the trainees were quick to respond!

 The school had identified an underused triangle of grass that they wanted to turn into an area of sustainable Mediterranean planting but the area experienced high footfall and had been compacted into hard-packed clay.

The trainees made short work of this however, and soon had the area ready for the school to plant both drought-loving flowers to attract insects and herbs to be used in the school kitchen.

They then moved onto another area of compacted earth which they dug over to allow a new path to be laid.

 Louise Bryant, the Horticulturalist and Community Link Worker at Wicor Primary School said of the trainees’ visit, “Thank you for the fantastic work your team did for our school.

"The community volunteers that attend sessions here were especially grateful as there was a lot of heavy work to be done.

"Our community gardens are at the heart of what we do and provide not only a curriculum resource but a place for keeping active and encouraging wellbeing in an increasingly busy world.”