Published on:
20
August 2013
A group of local young people explored wild places, learned new skills, and had lots of fun at the Council's free John Muir Award Week earlier this month.
A group of 11 young people aged from 8 - 12 years joined our Countryside Rangers for four days of fun-packed adventure, exploring the less well known woods to the north of Gartmorn Dam.
Participants discovered and explored the woods, did some work to conserve them and then had a gathering with parents and carers on the final day to share their experiences.
Enterprise and Environment Convenor, Councillor Donald Balsillie said: "John Muir Week was a fantastic opportunity for the young people of Clackmannanshire to explore and find out more about the place they live. It also gave them the chance to learn more about the environment and how they can play their part in understanding and protecting it not just now, but in later life. The Ranger Service should also be commended for their work in making John Muir Week such an outstanding success."
On the first day of the programme the young people were introduced to the John Muir Award, by following a trail of stars that gave information about John Muir and the Award. Journey sticks were explained and the participants put together their own personal journey sticks, telling of their journey to camp that morning. The young people then built some shelters that they had the opportunity to add to throughout the week - always a favourite activity! They were also set the task of inventing musical instruments made from natural materials (and a bit of string if required!) as John Muir had been an inventor. There was a fantastic composition, completely composed by the children, with stones being banged together, tree stumps as drums, leaves being crushed and rustled, voices mimicking guitars and guitars made from twigs and string.
On the second day our intrepid explorers trekked back up to base camp and played 'Hunter, Mammoth, Mouse' - a game designed to get everyone working as a team. The theme today was exploring the base camp site, and really getting to know it. The young people learned a bit about the trees that grow in the woodland and even built one out of people. They also learned to identify different trees and over the week participants used this knowledge to select wood for different things such as fire lighting. After lunch the young people went on a bug hunt, and found all kinds of weird and wonderful creatures lurking in the undergrowth. We talked about how different countries, such as Africa (and now Scotland) have their own "big 5 species" and as a task to do at home, the children had to come up with their own "small 5" - thinking about the 5 most iconic Scottish / local creatures. Finally the explorers began to learn the rudiments of fire building in small groups. Sparks were made and flames created!
On the third day, the group continued with fire lighting exploits and the young people were challenged to use their new found skills to boil enough water to make themselves a cup of hot chocolate. In true John Muir style, perseverance won the day and hot chocolates were made and consumed! In the afternoon participants thought about conservation and how John Muir was really the father of the conservation movement. The children were aware of the fact that their activities in the woods - trampling and lifting up logs and stones to look for bugs - had probably had some impact on the woodland, and especially the mini-beast population. To counteract these activities everyone worked together to build a huge "bug hotel" to provide a luxurious and varied habitat for the resident mini-beasts. The young people also made smaller portable ones to take home so they could do some conservation work in their own back gardens.
The main focus on the final day, was sharing everyone's experiences with friends and family. The team of explorers created wild story boards which were a creative representation and reflection of their journey during the week. After a quick lunch the young people set off to collect their families from the visitor centre and lead them back up to base camp, using John Muir stars to show them the way and give their families some information about John Muir. Once they arrived at base camp, they shared their wild storyboards with their families to share their week with them. The children then set their families a challenge of building a den, while they used their finely tuned fire lighting skills to make hot drinks for their families. The young people then received their well earned certificates, presented by Dick Clark our local, long-standing John Muir champion.
Councillor Balsillie added: "I thank Dick Clark for presenting the certificates and I'm sure John Muir would have been impressed by the dedication and team work shown by all the young people during their four day adventure."