Gardeners receive shedload of praise

PRIDE in Oldham nomination for Rushcroft Primary School garden club team. Glynnis Queenan, Eddie Costello and Will Queenan with children, from left, Connah Brown, Brooke Lamb, Luke Blackburn, Elliot Eastham, Tristan Ross and Jenna Ladkin

A TEACHING assistant, her husband and a team of school gardening volunteers have been nominated for a Pride in Oldham award.

Glynnis Queenan works at Rushcroft Primary School in Shaw where she is part of a garden club team which brightens up the school and other locations.

Other green-fingered volunteers include her husband Will Queenan, school site manager Toby Kearney and Eddie Costello, a local grandparent.

Glynnis has developed gardening and floral projects linked to the Oldham in Bloom campaign and the Royal Horticultural Society, and also supported a planting scheme at a community cafe based at Dunwood Park.

Rushcroft head teacher Jane Sheridan said: "Glynnis and Will run the gardening club and have worked closely with Oldham in Bloom to develop the school grounds.

"They have planted shrubs and created fantastic pots of flowers around the school entrance. They are responsible for planting and tending the plants, and everyone who visits the school is impressed with the displays which create a calm, uplifting environment.

"The team has also planted flower beds at the Dunwood Park cafe.

"This is all done on a voluntary basis after school lessons and during the holidays. The team has instilled a love of gardening among the children,

"I've been amazed at the children's knowledge. They can correctly identify flowers and tell us how to care for them.

"They also ran a plant stall at the school summer fair using the plants they'd grown, which raised further funds for the gardening club. All this activity shows the children that a love of learning is not confined to the classroom or limited to a certain age group."

Glynnis (63) told the Chronicle: "It's lovely for the team to be nominated. I have to emphasise that the children have done much of the work and the school has been encouraging us to develop these activities. We also have great support from a number of volunteers.

"The children are really keen and are involved in everything - from designing displays to planting and tending to plants.

"The Rushcroft School gardening club is a member of the Royal Horticultural Society's children and schools' network. We currently have a silver RHS award and we want to achieve a gold.

"The RHS has really good material for schools which links into other parts of the curriculum, such as literacy and science. We also took part in a seeds in space science project involving the British astronaut Tim Peake.

She added: "Gardening teaches children to take pride in their work, to respect growing things and to learn new skills. It also gives them confidence to work with and talk to other people too."