The Frome Men’s Shed has again been working with the Town Council rangers and pupils from Critchill School to make 20 new bird boxes, and bat roosts for trees around the town. The Men’s Shed have constructed and made up the kits.
The shedders, rangers and pupils from Critchill School finished and assembled the boxes and roosts over two afternoons during January. The council rangers will put them up in trees in a number of the parks and green spaces in the town shortly.
Diggy Coe, from the Critchill School inclusion team said, “The sessions were motivating and enjoyable. It was a triumph and the Critchill pupils got so much out of it. It was lovely to see the positive relationships develop between the boys, the shedders and the Frome Town Council rangers.”
Ranger Dave said, “It has been fantastic to bring a community group and school pupils together to work on a great project that will benefit our open spaces and the wildlife of Frome. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the exceptional Men’s Shed and the enthusiastic pupils from Critchill School, both teams were outstanding to partner with, and we hope to continue this working relationship moving forward.”
The Frome Men’s Shed team was led by Pete Gulliver, who is also a founder member of the Frome Bat Care group. Pete designed the boxes and bat roosts, and made up the kits for assembly. Pete also gave an entertaining and engaging presentation on Bats in Somerset that was much enjoyed by Haiden, Adam and Josh – the pupils from Critchill School. The other shedders who helped with the project were Pete Lidbetter, Tony Hopkins and Patrick Abrahams.
Patrick said, “The shedders really love working on this project. They find it profoundly rewarding to work with the pupils from Critchill School in assembling these boxes and roosts. They love it when they see the pupils having a better grasp on making the boxes and roosts at the end of the session than the shedders themselves.”
The Frome Men’s Shed and Critchill School are delighted that Frome Town Council and their rangers support these activities which help both the environment of the town and the community in Frome.
