Show Guide 2018

The Newbury and District Agricultural Society Education

SECTION HEAD PAMELA HILLIER-BROOK

Education of the origins of food, how it is produced and how everyone can benefit from healthily grown produce is at the core of the Newbury and District Agricultural Society’s aim to educate. The Education Officer of the Society, Jan Murray, is responsible for a calendar of events, whether it be visiting schools, inviting schools to events on the showground or running demonstrations and competitions at local venues.

second place, and Kennet School and B.C.A tying for third. Look out for students from The Clere School selling their product over the Show weekend in the Education tent! Grow your own potatoes The weather stayed dry for the harvesting of the Potato Council’s ‘Grow your own potatoes’ initiative which took place both at the showground and at Langley Academy. Both days began with all the children making potato salad, selecting from a variety of ingredients on offer, before harvesting their crops which they had planted in March and had grown back at school. The winners for the heaviest crop were Robert Sandilands Primary, Thatcham Park Primary, Colnbrook Primary and Langley Academy. Well done to all who entered the competition. Autumn harvest celebration Two autumn days were held at the showground and at Wellington College in October for the schools that came along with the pumpkins they had been growing over the summer months. Before weighing them they learnt all about growing English apples and pumpkins from local farmers, as well as apple bobbing, tasting apple crumble and pumpkin soup and hearing the story of Johnny Appleseed. Brightwalton Primary and kennel Lane School were awarded the prizes for the heaviest vegetables. Farm visits Children from across Berkshire recently visited local farms to learn all about farm crops, keeping sheep, farm machinery and woodland management. Although tired at the end of the day, the children thoroughly enjoyed their visits and

visited around 3000 children. Children have had the opportunity to find out about where milk comes from and the journey it takes to get to the breakfast table. Older children have also had the opportunity to find out about Louis Pasteur and Pasteurisation. If your school has not seen Buttercup, give us a call to arrange a visit. Rasher Rasher our Berkshire Pig, continues to be very popular within the family of nearly real animals, featuring in British Sausage Week workshops as well as going out in her own right. She has been seen by over 1000 pupils in Primary Schools across the country this year. She comes with a talk all about the life of a pig and, for the older children, a discussion on which cuts of meat come from her, along with a sausage making demonstration. Clover Clover is our latest addition to the family of nearly real animals being a wooden goat. A visit from her includes the opportunity to taste goat’s cheese and this year she has Each year at the Ploughing Match we hold a scarecrow making competition for schools. In 2017 the worthy winner was a fabulous scarecrow made by Young Adults at Prior’s Court School. This year it will be held on Saturday 20th October. For more information contact the Education Officer, details below. Junior country pursuit day This popular event is held in August for those aged between 8-16. The day includes: clay pigeon shooting, fly fishing, Labrador handling, birds of prey handling, ferret handling and air rifle target shooting, for details about the next Junior Country Pursuits Day, August 2019 please contact the Education Officer, details below. met around 1500 pupils. Scarecrow competition

Breakfast workshops Wanting to impart the message that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, we spent a morning in a large number of Primary Schools with demonstrations of making porridge and breakfast smoothies, played breakfast themed games and gave the children the opportunity to plant cereal seeds. These workshops will be offered again in 2019 so do contact Education if you would like to be involved. Cookery school We have been working with Secondary schools this year across both East and West Berkshire, running practical cookery sessions with the students, using locally sourced, fresh, in season, organic produce. The students have also had the opportunity to visit the farms where the produce has come from, giving them a real opportunity to follow the food from field to fork. Agricultural challenge for special education This challenge saw teams from nine schools and colleges with SEN students working on a series of activities, over two terms, before bringing the outcomes along to a Grand Final at the Arlington Arts Centre in April. The students all received certificates for taking part and Reading College were announced overall winners with Mary Hare Primary School, the Castle School and Newbury College runners up. Design, make and market challenge This new challenge for secondary aged students saw four teams attend the Final at Berkshire College of Agriculture in May. They brought along the products they had designed, all with an agricultural/horticultural theme and after informally discussing with the judges they pitched their product to the judges and an invited audience. The winner team was from B.C.A. with the Clere School taking

learnt a lot. Buttercup

Our ‘milking cow’ has been very busy again; she has been into schools from Newbury right across to Slough and

The Newbury & District Agricultural Society is raising money to work with students across the whole of Berkshire on further education projects. If you would like to donate some money to this cause please contact Jan Murray. For more information on all our education activities, please contact Jan Murray the Education Officer, 01635 247111 or email education@newburyshowground.co.u k

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