Showing posts with label Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre. Show all posts

Friday 26 May 2023

Half-term activities at Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre - June 1st and 2nd

 

From Thames21

Get ready explore the Welsh Harp Education Centre and the Welsh Harp Reservoir this May Half Term Holidays for FREE activities supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and Canal and Rivers Trust.

 

Activities include:


Junior Bird Watchers Walk

Thursday 1st June 10.30am – 12.00pm

Join us at the Education Centre for a guided walk to the Welsh Harp Reservoir on a bird spotting adventure! Feed the birds and see how many you can identify. Ages 5-12. 


Pond Dipping & Mini-beast Hunt

Thursday 1st June, 1.00pm – 2.30pm

Dip your net in the ponds at the Education Centre to see what creatures live underwater and venture out into the wild woods to see what mini-beasts live there. Ages 5-12. 


Tree ID & Plant Art

Friday 2nd June 10.30am – 12.00pm

Join us at the Education Centre for a guided walk to the Welsh Harp Reservoir to explore different types of trees! Create beautiful plant art by using flowers and other plants on watercolour paper. Ages 5-12.


Shelter Building & Nature Quiz Trail

Friday 2nd June 1.00pm – 2.30pm

Build a shelter in the Education Centre woods and see if you can make it waterproof. Go exploring around the woods to find the quiz clues and see if you can solve the word puzzle! Ages 5-12.

 

Booking is essential, please use this Eventbrite link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-go-wild-at-welsh-harp-tickets-629851461677


Location:

Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre
Birchen Grove, NW9 8RY. Follow the signs towards the Birchen Grove Garden Centre.

Further info:

  • An adult must attend & supervise children throughout activities.
  • Places are limited and booking is essential, please use the Eventbrite link if you need to cancel your booking.
  • Children and adults should wear comfortable outdoor clothing and shoes that may get dirty as we will be walking on woodland pathways. Please bring a waterproof jacket if it is forecast to rain.

Monday 15 May 2023

Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre Saved?

 

Some years ago: Brent teacher unions, Brent Friends of the Earth, Brent Greens and Brent Campaign Against Climate Change fight to keep the WHEEC open 

 

A paper going to the next Brent Cabinet from officers puts forward a cross-council plan that could ensure the future of the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre after several years of doubt as to its future. Officers deserve credit for an imaginative scheme that could deliver a much enhanced programme and a new building to replace the current classrooms that are well on thew way out. There are more details to come including the future of the chapel, currently leased out, and the specific site of the new building. The papers says the classrooms will be demolished and returned to open space. The £3m capital cost will be funded from the High Needs Capital Grant.

The proposal is part of a Post-16 SEND offer:

 

It is proposed that the Post-16 Skills Resource Centre operates from two sites. The Welsh Harp Centre would be developed to provide a horticultural facility with work experience and volunteering opportunities. The second site would be based in new facilities on the Airco Close site in Kingsbury, alongside an expansion of the special school provision that is delivered by the Compass Learning Trust. An expansion of special school places had previously been planned at The Village and Woodfield Schools. Use of the Airco Close site would facilitate the Compass Learning Trust developing 14+ pathways to employment for children with SEND. The intention is that the Compass Learning Trust also operates the Horticultural Facility at Welsh Harp to bring cohesion to the offer across the two sites. However, the lease would remain with the Council which would oversee the use of the site by third sector and community organisations, including the Scouts who have shown interest in operating from the site in partnership with the Council.

 


The detailed proposals for the Welsh Harp:

3.11 The proposed Welsh Harp Horticultural Facility would provide training in horticulture, work experience, periods of volunteering and employment and enterprise development. This facility responds directly to the Borough Plan objectives ‘The Best Start in Life’ and ‘A Healthier Brent’. The proposed facility would also respond to the Council’s Climate Emergency Strategy 2021-2030, as it would provide opportunity for residents to be better connected to nature and enhance green spaces and biodiversity.

3.12 The Welsh Harp Facility would re-provide with input from the third sector the existing Environmental Education Centre that works with schools and volunteers, operating in tandem with the Welsh Harp Joint Consultative Committee and supporting development of a biodiversity centre. The facility would also support pupils from across Brent schools to engage in environmental science. It would also be able to support Brent in Bloom and the delivery of commercial contracts, again increasing the economic activity and visibility of
younger residents with disabilities.

3.13 The Welsh Harp Centre could operate as a training centre for 5 days per week and at weekends and the evenings would open to the public for wider programme of activities including supporting residents to grow their own food and learn about heathy meals alongside wider environmentally based activities.

3.14 The current building is in poor quality and at the end of its lifespan and requires significant capital investment to replace. This proposal would enable the Environmental Education programme to schools to continue to be delivered as part of the wider building use alongside the Post-16 horticultural use. The capital project to replace the building is estimated to cost £3m. This would be funded from the SEND Capital Grant (see below).

3.15 Table 1 below proposes the high-level milestones to deliver the Welsh Harp new building. More detail will be included in the capital project business case for the project.

 

  

3.16 As a revenue invest to save proposal, the Welsh Harp Centre would provide activities focused on contributing towards the following objectives, with funding allocated to activities that would directly impact on outcomes for Brent residents that can be tracked and reported on annually:


a) Independent life and work skills training and support for the post-16 SEND population resulting in a reduction in HNB expenditure through, for example, a reduction in the number of EHCPs that are maintained as young people receive training that helps them to secure employment.


b) the Public Health Outcomes Framework, and in particular indicators that improve the wider determinants of health / health inequalities, for example increasing employment opportunities for young adults with learning disabilities, addressing social isolation and loneliness and supporting the wider public to make healthy lifestyle choices. These indicators would be measured for young people and adults accessing the Centre.


c) Adult Social Care measures, specifically the proportion of adults with a learning disability in paid employment, the proportion of people with a learning disability living in their own home or with family and the proportion of people who use services who have control over their daily life.


d) NHSE outcomes including the employment of people with long-term conditions or who feel supported to manage their condition and the NHS Learning Disability and ASD long term plan.


 

Saturday 21 January 2023

Welsh Harp Goes Wild! FREE February Half Term Activities

 


From Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre, Birchen Grove, Kingsbury, NW9 8RY

 

Activities include:

Build a Bug Hotel

Tuesday 14th, 1.00pm – 2.30pm

Create a new home for bugs and join a bug hunt around the woodland to see who lives there. Ages 5-12.

 

Forest Skills

Wednesday 15th, 1.00pm – 2.30pm

Gather round a camp fire in the woods to roast marshmallows and bananas.  Build a forest shelter and see if you can make it water proof!  Ages 7+

 

Make a Bird Feeder

Thursday 16th, 1.00pm – 2.30pm

Make a bird feeder and ‘bird cake’ to take home. Explore the woods to look for birds of all sorts and sounds. Bring your own bottle or container or use one of ours! Ages 5-12.

 

Booking is essential, please contact us on:

Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre

Birchen Grove, NW9 8RY. Follow the signs towards the Birchen Grove Garden Centre.

Phone: 07711 701 694

Email: welshharpcentre@thames21.org.uk

Further info:

  • An adult must attend & supervise children throughout activities.
  • Places are limited and booking is essential, please contact us to book and also let us know if you need to cancel your booking.
  • Children and adults should wear comfortable outdoor clothing and a waterproof jacket if it’s forecast to rain.
  • Seeds, which can also include nuts, vegetable lard and bread will be used for the Make a Bird Feeder activity.
  • Bananas and marshmallows (vegan and non-vegan) are provided for the fire activity.

 

Sunday 27 November 2022

Hopeful signs for survival of the much valued Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre

 

Back in August I wrote an article on Wembley Matters with the headline :

We need to firm up proposals for the future of the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre or it will be our children's loss  LINK

Yesterday the above tweet indicated that local groups have risen to the challenge with a positive meeting of various groups interested in using the Centre, perhaps as a consortium LINK , or as sub-leasers under  present lease-holders Thames 21.

The road to survival?

There is a long way to go before the future of the Centre is secured with work to be done on the financial side as well on the collaboration agreements between the groups. The initiative shows that the Centre is valued and its survival, when nature itself is under threat from climate change, is recognised as vital to bring children and adults closer to their environment and engaged in its protection.

Brent Council is the owner of the site and will need to be convinced of the long-term viability of any proposals put forward.

 

 

Wednesday 26 October 2022

Half-Term Nature Activities at Welsh Harp

Apologies I got this information too late for today's activities but here areThursday and Friday:

 

Smartphone Safari

Thursday 27th, 10.30am – 12.00pm & 1.00pm – 2.30pm

Learn how to use your smartphone camera like a pro using simple and fun methods by Jet Black Squares. Bring your smart phone and get ready to explore the Education Centre woods! Ages 8+

 

Nature Fun in the Wild

Friday 28th, 10.30am – 12.00pm & 1.00pm – 2.30pm

Join us for pond dipping and mini-beast hunting in the wilds of the pond and woods at the Education Centre! Ages 5-12.

 

Booking is essential, please contact us on:

Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre

Birchen Grove, NW9 8RY. Follow the signs towards the Garden Centre.

Phone: 07711 701 694

Email: welshharpcentre@thames21.org.uk

 

Further info:

  • An adult must attend & supervise children throughout activities.
  • Places are limited and booking is essential, please contact us to book and also let us know if you need to cancel your booking.
  • Children and adults should wear comfortable outdoor clothing that may get dirty if you wish to come for a walk in the woods.

Tuesday 2 August 2022

We need to firm up proposals for the future of the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre or it will be our children's loss

 

Representations were made both by councillors and the public at the last meeting of the Welsh Harp Joint Consultative Committee about the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre (WHEEC)  and its future.

The Committee covers both Barnet Council and Brent Council and the chairing alternates between the two. This year Barnet chairs.

The Centre has been a well-used resource for educating primary school children about the environment for decades. Thames21 was chosen to take it over when Brent Council stopped funding as a result of government funding cuts. However, after operating the Centre for a few years they decided they could not continue. Following local campaigning they decided to continue for a year, albeit with a reduced offer, while a long-term solution was found to ensure the future viability of the resource.

At the Committee's March 10th meeting it was recorded:

..it had been agreed for Thames 21 to continue activities  [at WHEEC] for a further year, with a full programme to be confirmed. It was noted that the centre required some infrastructure work in order to make the centre viable, which would incur a revenue cost. The Committee would continue to be kept updated regarding progress on the ongoing discussions regarding the future of the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre. 
Questions and comments were then invited on the update, with the following issues raised:
· It was noted that expressions had been raised to extend the remit of classes at the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre, including sessions for secondary schools and evening classes for adults. It was asked if these plans were still in place to be explored. It was explained that this was still being explored and had worked in other similar centres in London, but would rely on a viable consortium to bring people, resources and organisations together to make it happen.

Brent Council's report to last last week's meeting indicated little progress:

Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre:

Discussions have continued between Brent Council and external partner organisations who have or may have an interest in creating a viable environmental education centre. Thames 21 have agreed to provide some services for another year while discussions continue for a longer-term solution for the future of the Centre.

Committee members asked for further information stressing the importance of the Centre in the context of the Council's declaration of a climate emergency. No details were available of the organisations that had expressed an interesting in forming a Consortium to run the Centre, the reduced programme that will be offered by Thames21, whether local firm Carey's an original bidder to run the Centre had been approached again, or the status of the former chapel, known as Planet House, which shares the site. 

When passing the Centre's classrooms and toilet block on the way to the Garden Centre it is easy to discount the Centre's most important resource. This is the extensive woodland (see photograph above) that stretches to the Barnet border north of the classrooms and the woodland on the other side of the access road that  abuts the Welsh Harp Open Space. The towering mature trees and shrubs beneath  provide an amazing unspoilt habitat for wildlife and add to Brent's quota of green space.

When I tweeted about the Centre yesterday these were some of the responses:

 






 Any organisations or projects interested in joining a consortium should write to  brent.parks.services@brent.gov.ukwith a brief summary of their interest/proposal.

Monday 25 July 2022

Time to renew efforts to safeguard the future of the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre

 

 The children in the 2013 Brent Council video above are teenagers now. Teenagers facing the prospect of a future wrecked by the impact of accelerating climate change. 

Since 2013 the environment has become a major political issue and Brent Council itself has declared a climate emergency. However just two years after the video was made, Harry Mackie retired and Brent decided it could no longer fund the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre. 

After campaigns, including on this blog, the charity Thames21 took it over and continued courses and tried to find other sources of revenue. However, despite full bookings the charity eventually decided it was not financially viable to continue and signalled their desire to end the arrangement.

Since then the Centre has limped on with Thames21 providing a skeleton service, while Brent Council sought a solution.  I was a little worried about the Centre's future when I saw surveyors on the site recently. The structural condition of the classrooms has deteriorated since 2013.

Unfortunately a report going to Wednesday's Welsh Harp Consultative Committee devotes only a few sentences to the Centre and appears to be a repeat of the previous report with no indication of real progress LINK :

Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre:


Discussions have continued between Brent Council and external partner organisations who have or may have an interest in creating a viable environmental education centre. Thames 21 have agreed to provide some services for another year while discussions continue for a longer-term solution for the future of the Centre

I hope that some of our newly elected councillors who have a good record on the environment will try and put some pressure on the council to renew its efforts.

The video speaks for itself and I can assure readers that the new generation is equally involved and excited by visits to the Centre.  I hear their excited chatter as they walk past my allotment on Birchen Grove and I sometimes stop to talk to groups of pupils as their teachers marshall them at the end of the sessions.

Let's secure its future once and for all.


Saturday 12 September 2020

The Welsh Harp Reservoir Story – Part 4

Fourth of the guest series by local historian Philip Grant


The Welsh Harp Reservoir Story – Part 4

Thank you for joining me again, as we sail towards the finishing line of our local reservoir’s story. If you missed Part 3, you will find it here.


1. A sailing race on the Welsh Harp Reservoir, 2011.

Sailing became an important use of the Welsh Harp in the years after the Second World War. Several large companies, such as Handley Page and Smiths Industries from Cricklewood, set up their own sailing clubs for employees. Others were local organisations, such as the Wembley Sailing Club (formed in 1953) and the Sea Cadets. The various clubs have since come together under an umbrella organisation, the Welsh Harp Sailing Association, based at Birchen Grove, which leases the reservoir for all water-based sports and leisure activities.


2. Sir Frederick Handley Page (left) at a dinghy naming ceremony for his company's sailing club, c. 1954.
    (Photo courtesy of the Handley Page Association)

The reservoir had come into public ownership in 1948, as part of the post-war Labour Government’s nationalisation of transport industries, which eventually saw it managed by the British Waterways Board. Under another environmental innovation from that time, the reservoir and its shoreline were made a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1950, particularly for their importance to rare bird species, but also for the plant life at the water’s edge.

Most of the land around the Welsh Harp was still in a mixture of private and local authority ownership. I mentioned in Part 3 that Willesden Urban District Council had purchased 40 acres of land on the north side in 1928. We saw in the articles on Church End and Chapel End that Willesden had opened a new cemetery in 1893, but because of the district’s large population, this was already filling up. It planned to put a cemetery here, but Kingsbury Council objected, saying that it wanted the area used for housing. After a public inquiry, the Government agreed to loan Willesden the money for a cemetery, but said it must sell Kingsbury 14 acres nearest to the reservoir for recreational use. This later became the Welsh Harp Open Space.

3. Willesden's 1950 plans for its Kingsbury Lawn Cemetery, and Garden of Rest. (From the National Archive)

After Kingsbury merged with Wembley in 1934, Willesden’s plans were further delayed, as the new council tried to buy the land from it, for its own cemetery needs. The only thing that the two councils managed to agree on, when war came in 1939, was that they could both use what is now the Birchen Grove allotments site for mass civilian burials, if the need arose (thankfully, it didn’t!). Under the new post-war planning regulations, Willesden applied again in 1950 to use their land as a burial ground. Approval was eventually given and their Kingsbury Lawn Cemetery was consecrated in 1954, with the superintendent’s house and chapel built by 1956. Despite this, the ornamental gates at the top of Birchen Grove have never welcomed a funeral! 
 

4. Sculling finalists and the British eight at the Women’s European Rowing Championships, 1960.
    (Source: Brent Archives – Willesden Chronicle photographers’ negatives)

On some websites, you will read that the Welsh Harp was the venue for the rowing events at the 1948 London Olympic Games. That’s incorrect (in fact, they were held at Henley, on the River Thames), but the reservoir did host the 1960 Women’s European Rowing Championships (“click” for a detailed article on these). That event was organised by Willesden Borough Council, and the competitors were accommodated at the then recently opened John Kelly Girls School (now part of Crest Academy), just up Dollis Hill from Neasden Recreation Ground.

5. Brent Regatta ad. from 1966, and the 1969 inter-Council rowing race. (Brent Archives online image 9787)

The Council had run a Whit Monday Willesden Regatta on the reservoir for many years, and this continued as the Brent Regatta after it merged with Wembley in 1965. One of the highlights for the crowds was watching teams of local councillors from a number of London Boroughs taking part in rowing race over a 500-metre course. The photo above shows the Brent boat winning the 1969 race – I wonder who would be in the crew if the race was still held today (any nominations?). This annual bank holiday regatta ended in the early 1970s.
 

 6. Two views of activities at the Youth Sailing Base. (Images from Brent Archives)

It was not just adults who could enjoy water sports on the Welsh Harp. In 1964, the year before it was disbanded, Middlesex County Council opened a Youth Sailing Base on the northern arm of the reservoir, where thousands of young people learned to sail or canoe safely. Another important facility for local youngsters came in 1973, when Brent Council opened the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre (“WHEEC”) on part of the proposed cemetery site. A large nursery, to grow plants for Brent’s Parks Service, also opened on the site in 1977.
 

 7. The 1956 cemetery chapel building, later used by the WHEEC and (here in 2011) by Energy Solutions.

The importance of the Welsh Harp for nesting water birds had long attracted ornithologists to the area. When proposals for a marina, close to a key nesting area near the Welsh Harp public house, were put forward in the early 1970s, a number of them came together to oppose this. The Welsh Harp Conservation Group was formed in 1972, and their volunteer members have helped to look after the habitats on and around the reservoir ever since (in a similar way to the Barn Hill Conservation Group, featured in my Fryent Country Park Story).

 8. Welsh Harp Conservation Group volunteers at work, winter 2008 and summer 2011. (L. by Roy Beddard)

As well as looking after nesting rafts and bird hides, and the wider vegetation of the area to encourage wildlife of all sorts, the group has played an important part in recording the natural history of the reservoir, and sharing this with visitors. From a first guided walk on a bank holiday in 1976, they expanded this to provide monthly wildlife walks. When my children were young (in the late 1980s or early 1990s) our family benefitted from one of these walks. For the first time in my life I got to see beautiful Great Crested Grebes, an unforgettable sight!
 

9. Great Crested Grebes, courting and nesting on the Welsh Harp. (Photos by Roy Beddard and Leo Batten)

While there was relative peace and quiet for the bird nesting grounds at the eastern end of the reservoir, there were major developments taking place not far away, at Staples Corner. The narrow roadway under the Victorian railway viaduct was causing major traffic problems on the North Circular Road, especially when it was planned to start the M1 motorway from here. A massive Brent Cross flyover was built in the 1960s, to carry east-west through-traffic over the top of this bottleneck. You can see this in the photo below, and I have added part of a 1921 image to help show the line of the viaduct, which you can just see in the modern picture.
 
 
 10. Staples Corner, with North Circular Road flyover and the railway viaduct (including 1921 comparison).

You may be wondering what happened to the Welsh Harp public house, which featured in Part 2 of this story. It had been replaced by a more modern building in the 1930s (the fate of a number of historic inns in our area), but it fell victim to more roadworks when the north-south A5 flyover was built over Staples Corner in the 1970s. It was demolished in 1971, and its site was where the north-bound slip road, from Staples Corner towards West Hendon, passes the entrance to Priestley Way, a service road for a small industrial estate. What a sad epitaph for the inn which gave the Brent Reservoir its more popular name!


11. The 1930s Welsh Harp public house in 1971, and the site as it is now. (1971 photo by Geoffrey Hewlett)

Going back to the reservoir, this does have to be drained occasionally, both for major maintenance work on the dam and to remove the rubbish which unfortunately gets dumped in it. One remarkable feature when this happens is that the original winding course of the River Brent can still be seen, just as it was when it marked the boundary between Kingsbury and Hendon parishes to the north, and Willesden parish to the south, when the land was first flooded to create the reservoir in 1835.
 

12. The River Brent flowing through the drained reservoir in 1974. (Photo by Leo Batten)

In 2012, responsibility for the reservoir was passed to the Canal and River Trust, a charity set up when the Government abolished the publicly-owned British Waterways Board. Questions were raised about how safe the reservoir might be in the event of a severe storm, after a similar Canal Age dam at Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire was in danger of collapse in 2019. Luckily, it emerged that as well as regular checks, further reinforcement of the dam with concrete had been carried out in 2005-07, following detailed studies of how extreme heavy rainfall might affect the Welsh Harp reservoir, and the river downstream of it. Brent Council also issued a statement following the Toddbrook Reservoir emergency, with links to information for anyone who feels the need for reassurance.

Earlier, I mentioned facilities that had been set up for young people near the reservoir. Sadly, Barnet Council closed the Youth Sailing Base, which they inherited from Middlesex County Council, in 2004, and sold off its site to a developer for building luxury waterside apartments. Instructors from the Base went on to set up the Phoenix Canoe Club, so that there is still a place on the Welsh Harp where youngsters can enjoy this sport.

13. Pond dipping at the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre. (Photo courtesy of Harry Mackie)

The Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre went from strength to strength. Back in the 1980s, my daughters were among the thousands of local school children each year who have enjoyed learning about nature in a hands-on way, from enthusiastic experts. But the squeeze on local authority spending has also hit the former cemetery site. By the 1990s, Brent Council had closed its Parks Department nursery, which later reopened as the private Greenhouse (now Birchen Grove) Garden Centre. 


During the past ten years, cuts to funds allocated to youth services first saw the WHEEC receive financial support from the Careys construction group, then its threat of closure. Luckily this environmental “jewel in the crown”, celebrated in a 2015 Council video, was saved when Brent passed the Centre to the Thames 21 charity, under a Community Asset Transfer in 2016.
 
 

 
 
 
I hope you have enjoyed discovering more about “the Welsh Harp” in this series of articles. With all Brent’s Libraries now open again (with restricted hours), you can find even more information and pictures in Geoffrey Hewlett’s 2011 book, “Welsh Harp Reservoir Through Time”, in the local history section at ref. 942.185. 

14. The reservoir in 2010, and the cover of Geoffrey Hewlett's book. (Photo: London Canal Museum)

But it’s also a place to visit and enjoy, on our doorstep, if you can do so safely, whether for a walk, some wildlife watching or perhaps to learn to sail or paddle a canoe. After all, it is (officially) the Brent Reservoir!

Philip Grant

Next weekend we’ll take the No.32 northbound from the Priestley Way bus stop (by the site of the Welsh Harp Inn) for a one-off special article, then ride the same bus route southbound for a new local history series. Hop aboard “Wembley Matters” to find out where these journeys will take us.

Thursday 23 May 2019

Welsh Harp Half-Term Activity Day - Thursday May 30th


Join us at the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre for Holiday Activities!

Thursday 30th May
Pond Dipping and Mini-beast Hunt, 10.30am – 12pm
Dip in the pond to see what swims below and hunt for mini-beasts to find what creatures live in the woodland.

Shelter Building and Fire Lighting Demonstration, 1pm – 2.30pm
Build yourself a shelter in the woodland and see a fire lighting demonstration using a flint and steel.

£3 per child per activity session.

Limited spaces so book now!

What you need to know for this activity:
  • An adult must attend & supervise children throughout activities.
  • Places are limited and booking is essential, please contact us to book and also let us know if you need to cancel your booking.
  • Please pay in cash on the day. £3 per child per activity session.
  • Activities suitable for children aged 5-11 years. Children aged 4 and under who are not participating in activities are free of charge.
  • Children and adults should wear comfortable outdoor clothing that may get dirty.
To book, contact Deb Frankiewicz on:
Phone: 07711 701 694
Email: welshharpcentre@thames21.org.uk

Tuesday 16 April 2019

Easter holiday children's outdoor activity at the Welsh Harp tomorrow (Wednesday 17th April)



From Thames21

Join us at the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre for Holiday Activities! Hunt for mini-beasts to find what creatures live in the woodland and make a bug hotel. Come for a walk through our woodland to see how many different trees grow and build yourself a shelter in the woodland.

Wednesday 17th April:
10.30am – 12pm Woodland Mini-beast Hunt
1pm – 2.30pm Tree Walk and Shelter Building

Activities suitable for children aged 5-11 years.
£3 per child.
Limited spaces so book now!
  
To book, contact Marian Rastelli on:

Phone: 07905 848 510
Email: welshharpcentre@thames21.org.uk

What you need to know for this activity:

An adult must attend & supervise children throughout activities.

Places are limited and booking is essential, please contact us to book and also let us know if you need to cancel your booking.

Please pay in cash on the day. £3 per child.

All activities are suitable for ages 5 and over. Children aged 4 and under who are not participating in activities are free of charge.

Children and adults should wear comfortable outdoor clothing that may get dirty.


The Centre is at the end of Birchen Grove, Kingsbury, NW9. Go through the big green gates and the Centre is the brown building on the left before you get to the Garden Centre

Friday 1 March 2019

Join conservation work at the Welsh Harp on March 16th - more fun than the gym!

 You are invited to join me for our next Friends event on:
Saturday 16th March, 10.00am – 12.30pm

Each month a great group of individuals come together to do extremely useful conservation and maintenance work around the Centre using basic gardening tools, to gain skills and meet new people. This work supports the activities of the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre including over 3000 school children that attend the Centre each year and improves the biodiversity of the woodland habitat.


What will be the tasks at the next event?
There are quite a few tasks that need to be done to the new pond area to make it suitable for school groups and to help plants and wildlife thrive over spring:

  • Planting in and around the new ponds
  • Sand the new wooden fence
  • Transport creatures from the other ponds into the re-lined big pond
What else do you need to know?
  • All welcome! Young people aged 17 years and under need to be accompanied by a responsible adult, each individual child under 11 years old will need an adult with them at all times as we are using sharp tools. 
  • Tasks can be adapted or alternative tasks available for all levels of involvement.
  • Tea, coffee and snacks, steel toe cap wellington boots, tools and gloves are all provided. 
  • Wear comfortable outdoor clothing suitable for gardening.
  • Please meet inside the Education Centre.
We have achieved a lot since these events have started and we will continue to address many other aspects of the WHEEC Habitat Management Plan that need attending to. If you would like a copy of the management plan or information about the group, please email me: deb.frankiewicz@thames21.org.uk.

Hope to see as many of you as possible at the next event!

The Centre is at the end of Birchen Grove (off Blackbird Hill) NW9 - go through the big green gates at the end of Birchen Grove and the Education Centre is on the left.