|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Awards CeremonyThe prize-giving took place on the 24th of September 2003 at Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire. Over 170 people, including teachers and pupils from many of the winning schools, attended.
Mike Calnan, the National Trust's Head of Parks & Gardens,
was also chairman of the judges. He began by explaining his personal
motivation
for being involved in the REEP awards: A shared Mike evoked the long history of gardening in the UK. The National Trust has 200 gardens and 70 landscaped parks, some with a 500 year history. The winning schools will be able to enjoy a guided visit to a nearby National Trust garden. They will meet with the head gardener and be able to ask for advice about their own garden projects.
The REEP/ACE Art awards were introduced by Richard Humphries,
Finally, Mike Calnan ended the suspense by announcing name of the overall winning entry and explained why their project stood out among the other high-quality entries. St Wilfred's Primary school were presented with a crab-apple tree from the National Trust plant conservation unit in Devon, specialising in the propagation of rare species.
Everbody who attended went away with a little goodie-bag with more REEP would like to thank everybody who supported the awards, those who helped at Wimpole and also all the schools who entered. If you would like to be kept informed by email of news concerning the awards and future events, you can sign up to our email newsletter. Wimpole HallIf you are interested in visiting Wimpole Estate, see the National trust website for more information about Wimpole Hall and Home Farm or see Wimpole Hall's own website. Wimpole Estate
|
 |
The awards began with an introduction by Graham Damant,
Property Manager at Wimpole Estate. He underlined the importance
that Wimpole places on education. The site has two education
officers and welcomes up to 16 thousand school children each year.
Diana Lazenby, of REEP, thanked the National Trust for their support
and went on to announce the next round of awards. To be launched in early
2004, with prize-giving in 2005, the next REEP Awards should build on
this year's success. She also presented 
belief in "the power
of gardens to transform people's lives" and a common aim of "encouraging
children to appreciate nature and gardens, and their spiritual and cultural
benefits" were also behind the National Trust's support of the awards.
Chris Beardshaw, the BBC's flying gardener, then presented the awards
to the winning schools with Diana Lazenby introducing each entry. [Details
of the winning entries are available on 
senior curator at Tate Britain and head of the art judging panel for
the awards. He began by explaining the judging process: Although all
the
entries had some merit, the winners were chosen as they had managed
to address all aspects of the competition - they involved not only the
artist, but the children, teachers, parents and, in some cases, the wider
community around the school. They showed an intelligent response to
the brief and evidence of consideration of the wider aims of the awards.
It was also important that projects were both physically
and educationally sustainable.
The major REEP/ACE Art award of £2,500 for an artist working with a
school was presented by Reverend Richard McLaren.
Chris Beardshaw then gave a fascinating talk about
seeds: The variety of different forms that they take, and the process
that plants go through
in
order to produce seeds
and survive. After some tips on making winning conkers, Chris hoped that
the awards had provoked an interest in the school schildren for gardening,
perhaps sowing the seeds of the next generation of gardener!
After
this, it was time for a more hands-on activity. The children were able
to choose a packet of seeds donated by 
seeds,
donated by the