Wokingham

On Wednesday (September 27) Wokingham District Council’s chairman Cllr Angus Ross joined 60 pupils from the Hawthorns Primary School in Woosehill in unveiling a new information board containing illustrations and information about some of the wildlife and habitats of the Emm Brook.

The information board, developed by the voluntary conservation group Friends of the Emm Brook, was officially unveiled by Wokingham Cllr Ross and managing director of CALA Homes John Allan, on Riverside walk, behind Morrison's Supermarket.

However, the celebrations were cut short when less than 24 hours later the information board was vandalised and thrown into the brook.

Stephanie McKay, a teacher at Wokingham Hawthorn’s Primary School and a member of the Friends of the Emm Brook, said: “My first thoughts were of disappointment for the children and all those people who had given time and support to our project. The person or people responsible obviously have no idea how much work has gone into this project. However, the information on the board is not severely damaged and will be erected more securely shortly.

“We are lucky as a community to have the open spaces beside the brook as they are very precious and we need to respect them for everyone’s use. This project has taken over a year to complete and would not have happened without the support of the Friends of the Emm Brook. I would also like to thank the sponsors of the board including the district council, CALA Homes, Awards for All, and Earthwatch Institute. I hope that many people will visit it once it has been erected and learn more about the brook.”

The project has been driven by teacher Stephanie McKay after she won an Environmental Award for Educators from the Earthwatch Foundation in 2005.

To kick-start the project, reception class pupils went to visit the Emm Brook, which was followed up a further visit where they collected leaves, learnt about trees and measured the direction of the river flow. Many of the children said they didn’t like the litter and wanted to ask people not to throw it in the brook. And as a result came up with the idea of ‘the Emm Brook code’, similar to the countryside code. This code has been detailed on the information board.

Pupils from the school in Woosehill, Wokingham contributed to the design, providing paintings, including one of a kingfisher, drawings and written ideas. They developed the pattern for the border of the information board, comprising leaves which they had collected from the brook.

To complete the board, Friends of the Emm Brook helped with historical and botanical pieces of information to which the schools year 6 pupils also contributed. The children have learnt about the river, following its progress through seasonal changes, as well as gaining experience of fund-raising.

Cllr Angus Ross, chairman of the Wokingham district council, said: “I was delighted to join the pupils of Hawthorns Primary School to officially unveil the information board. The pupils told me they really enjoyed working on this project and have learnt a great deal about the local area.

“But, I am deeply saddened by the mindless vandalism that has occurred. This project has only just come to fruition and has involved many people working hard to ensure everyone could enjoy this information board. The council supports projects like these and we are providing many activities for young people to get involved with. I hope the posts sunk into ground will be more robust and secure. It is a pity it has to be that way. We need to ensure that everyone respects projects like these and I urge parents and young people themselves to take action to prevent such acts of vandalisms from being repeated in the future.”

Wokingham District Council