The Big Birdhouse Tour will be at intu Eldon Square from Tuesday 26 July until Sunday 21 August, and will showcase 15 larger than life birdhouses. Each birdhouse has been individually and artfully designed by well-known British personalities to raise money for and awareness of the RSPB. Visitors will be able to enjoy birdhouses designed by famous faces including Jo Whiley, Vic Reeves and Steve Backshall.
As part of the Big Birdhouse Tour, intu Eldon Square invited local schools to take part in the Big Birdhouse Challenge! Three schools, Percy Main Primary School in North Tyneside, Percy Hedley in Newcastle, andNewcastle Bridges School, were all selected to submit participants’ drawings of amazing and memorable wildlife moments. Every drawing submission will be showcased at intu Eldon Square in a special display area for the public to admire.
Each school received an introductory visit from a guest speaker to inspire and spark children’s imagination with exciting wildlife footage and information. In addition, each school received a super ‘wildlife’ bundle of RSPB merchandise and equipment worth over £700. The ‘wildlife’ bundle includes nature books, bird feeders, nest boxes and much more, all chosen to enable the participants to continue to nurture their love for nature by ‘giving nature a home’ within their own environment.
Denise Tweedy, assistant marketing manager at intu Eldon Square, said:
“We are thrilled to be working in partnership with the RSPB on the Big Birdhouse Tour and helping to raise awareness of the importance of ‘Giving Nature a Home’. We hope that the amazing birdhouses and our school engagement programme will encourage even more people to get outside and discover the array of wildlife which can be found in our very own back gardens.”
Mrs Donna Callaghan, deputy headteacher at Percy Main Primary School, added:
“At Percy Main Primary School we believe that our outdoor learning environments have much to offer and we value the importance of using the natural environment for the
stimulation of learning, alongside the promotion of health and well-being. As a school we are committed to working hard to continue to develop these areas. Over many years we have developed our grounds to become a place where our children work and play in harmony with nature and believe this fits our school ethos of ‘Learning to Care and Achieve’ fantastically. As holders of the Eco-School Green Flag, the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom Gold Award and the Gold Woodland Trust Award, we are delighted to have been given the opportunity to join the RSPB Big Birdhouse Challenge. I’d like to thank Miss Christine Morris (North Tyneside SCITT trainee) for arranging our involvement with the Big Birdhouse Tour.”
Newcastle Bridges School acting head teacher Mark Jones, commented:
“Newcastle Bridges School pupils thoroughly enjoyed learning about the animals we can find in our gardens and received a cuddly animal of their own to keep as an added bonus! It was lovely to be involved in such an inspiring project and the visit from the intu team combined both fun and education to highlight the importance of caring for the environment.”