Club’s mission to save planet (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Club’s mission to save planet

11:17am Wednesday 8th August 2007 in Green Watch By Kate Martin

RUBBISH, recycling and reducing energy use were the focus of a week of activities for children at a church holiday club.

Youngsters attending the club at St Mark's Church, in Kempshott, Basingstoke, learned how to protect the planet under the theme of Waste Watchers.

They covered a different topic every day, ranging from saving water and energy, to reusing bags for shopping and composting rubbish at home, which each had a slogan to help the children remember. Each topic was also linked to a story from the Bible.

At the end of the week, the children, who were aged from five to 11, had the chance to show their parents what they had learned during the week by giving short presentations at the church's Sunday service.

Alison Nickell, the holiday club co-ordinator, said: "We had a fantastic time and the most important thing was to teach the children to be ambassadors for their planet.

"I even heard at the end of the week that some of them, who are just five, had remembered the biblical themes and they all remembered the slogans so we were incredibly impressed.

"We wanted to get the message across to the children, and the younger they are, the better, because they are the ones who can change things."