Sunderland children discover their new secret garden thanks to AESC volunteers

Sunderland Echo

AESC volunteers have created a secret garden for children at Plains Farm Academy.

Transcript

00:00It's been an absolutely amazing project from start to finish. We got the e-mail through

00:26five weeks ago, acted upon it straight away. Mrs Quill designed what she wanted the secret

00:33garden to look like and the guys delivered. What's it like to see the reaction of the

00:39kids playing there? Absolutely amazing, as you can see they're kind of really excited

00:44about all the different areas and the good thing about it is this is not just for our

00:49early years children, it goes from early years to year six. They can come in with our lovely

00:54reading den, outdoor reading areas, we can use it for science, reading, writing and it's

01:03a really good resource for the whole school to use. And just a word for AESC who produced

01:09this? Massive, massive thank you. We have been difficult customers but they have been

01:16so patient with us and they've even provided their own resources. We've had donations of

01:21toys, things that they've had in the house have been upcycled so we couldn't have done

01:27it without their support and their help.

01:52AESC is growing as we sort of invest in Sunderland and as we get bigger I think we feel it's

01:58more important that we put something back into the local community. The production team

02:03here at AESC has been doing a lot of work in terms of reaching out to local schools

02:07and one of the things we're particularly keen to do is connect some of our workforce

02:11that have grown up in Sunderland, gone to school here and bring them back to the schools

02:15that they went to not that long ago to give something back to the community.

02:19And obviously it's getting officially open today, what's it like for the lads to come

02:22back and see the reactions of the kids? I think it's really exciting, I think one of

02:26the things that's really nice to see is they've thrown themselves into the project, you keep

02:29coming back and they've done a little bit more and given a little bit extra but I think

02:32it's particularly special when they get to see the kids using the project for the first

02:36time and get to see them playing and it really means an awful lot to them.

02:40I know you've done a couple of other schools, is this something you hope to be ongoing in

02:43the future as well? It's definitely something we're looking to continue and keep investing

02:47in and keep reaching out and I think the really nice thing is the feedback we're getting

02:51from all the schools suggests that it's really appreciated as well.

02:55I love it, look at this one!

03:13Okay and Amelie, what do you make of your secret garden, are you impressed?

03:16Yeah, it's so much better than it was because before it was kind of like stuff all over

03:25and leaves and it was just such a good idea to do this because now the kids can just come

03:31in, have fun and boys and girls can do different things if they want to do different things.

03:36And Sienna, what's your favourite part of the garden?

03:38Probably the cars because my brother loves cars and he likes playing with the cars.

03:44I'm looking to have a party and rave as well, is that something you'd like to do?

03:47Well, raving in there as well because there's a city in there that you can sit down and rave.

03:52Darcy, what do you make of the garden?

03:54I think it's nice because it's areas that both boys and girls can enjoy and I like how

04:05it's a lot more cleaner now.

04:09A big thanks to the lads who've done it.

04:13I also understand there's a number of local companies you would like to thank as well?

04:18Yes, I'd like to thank John and Alan from Woodleigh Services for providing a vast amount

04:23of materials for us to use, Simon at Ducons at Burtley, Adam at South Tyneside Building

04:30Merchants, Mr. Quill, Mrs. L Rose and Brian from Avenue Builders.

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