PR1841

20th March 2008

Digging in for sustainability

Teachers, parents and pupils got digging last week to create a water-efficient allotment at Hitchin Girls’ School. The allotment will be used to teach the pupils about water and sustainability by showing them how to grow, cultivate and make use of the herbs and vegetables.

Staff from Three Valleys Water’s Environment & Education team arrived at the school on Thursday, March 13 th with all the equipment, bulbs and seeds needed to construct the allotment. Environment centre manager Ted Casey and colleague Annabel Mora, from Three Valleys Water, led the ‘Groundforce’ initiative to make and plant up the allotment during the afternoon.

During the session – which included teachers from Fearnhill School and Highfield School in Letchworth - the gardening experts spoke to the teachers about how to link the allotment work to water and the National Curriculum. These tie in with a new Government initiative to encourage schools to be more sustainable.

Ted Casey, from Three Valleys Water, said: “Projects like the creation of this allotment involve the children and provide a valuable asset to help them learn about subjects, including water efficiency, science, citizenship and food technology.”

Teacher Diane Turner, from Hitchin Girls’ School, added: “We actively encourage the students to take responsibility for looking after the environment and welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with Three Valleys Water to provide a valuable hands-on experience and buckets of ideas.”

To find out how Three Valleys Water can help your school to be sustainable give the Centre a ring on 0208 420 5864.

Photo caption: Digging in to create the new allotment at Hitchin Girls’ School, from left, Teacher Hazel Brunnen from Fearnhill School, Annabel Mora from Three Valleys Water, teacher Diane Turner, student Charlotte Parker and parent Wendy Emes from the Girls’ School.

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For further information please contact Public Relations, tel: 01707 277110, fax: 01707 277213, website: www.3valleys.co.uk

Note to Editors:

About us
Three Valleys Water has been supplying water to the local community for more than 130 years and is committed to delivering a high quality water service to all its customers . It now provides over 870 million litres of water each day to three million customers, in parts of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey, the London Boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon and parts of the London Boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, and Enfield. The supply area covers a total of 3,700 square kilometres, stretching from Luton and Royston in the north to Guildford in the south, and from Berkhamsted in the west to Dunmow in the east.

Three Valleys Water is the UK’s largest water supply only company and is part of Veolia Water, the world leader in water and wastewater management. If you spot a leak call the Leakspotters hotline on 0800 376 5325 or use our online leakage form.