A Grand Day Out

More than 400 children from West Somerset Schools enjoyed two Big Blue Days at Dunster Beach recently as part of a series of events organised by Exmoor National Park Authority, Somerset Wildlife Trust, the Field Studies Council and the Somerset Waste Action Programme.

Big Blue Days follow on from 8 years of Big Green Days at Nettlecombe Court and will develop into Big Red Days focussing on the iron ore in the Brendon hills for 2009.

Dave Gurnett education manager,  Exmoor National Park Authority, said: “We are very grateful for Dunster Beach holidays tolerating us taking the place over with marquees and lots of children, but the visitors seemed delighted to see them all having so much fun.”

Activities included a whale and dolphin road show, waste themed environmental games, rock-pooling and sculptures in the sand.  John Paterson, senior teacher at St Dubricius C of E First School in Porlock said: ”The Big Blue Day was enjoyed by all and the children came back to school with a strong awareness of the need to look after our seas and shores. The game about turtles and jellyfish brought home an important message about how our carelessness in dealing with our rubbish can have terrible consequences for the survival of a marine animal. Following on from the day, the children produced some very interesting art work and poetry which demonstrated how much they had learnt and gained from the day.”

Frances Stuart from Carymoor Environmental Trust hoped that “as well as having a great day out, everyone went away with a positive message about how we can help prevent our rubbish from finding its way into the sea and harming our special and precious marine life.”