Member Article

Companies and schools join forces for Children North East

It’s buckets and spades at the ready as thousands of youngsters across the region get set to dig in for the 25th Sandcastle Challenge - organised by Children North East.

More than 1,700 school children from 50 primary and middle schools are set to take part in the annual event on Sandhaven Beach, South Shields on Friday (5 July), sponsored by construction specialist, Galliford Try Partnerships North.

This year’s title is ‘Build a New World’ and pupils have taken up the environmental theme with real enthusiasm.

A total of 126 staff who work for 34 different businesses – from architects and construction companies to legal practices and banks – have been helping children work up their designs. They’ll be joining the children on the beach on Friday to support them in building their ideas in sand.

Linton Primary School, in Northumberland, is one of three schools being supported this year, by Galliford Try Partnerships North.

Head teacher, Samantha Mason, who has just 25 children at the village school, said: “We’re putting two teams in this year and we’ve done a lot of work on the importance of looking after the environment recently, so the children really like the theme. “They decided they’d like to create something around our school values so as well as thinking about what our new world will look like, we’ve also been thinking about the qualities that would be important in it - like love, understanding, care, perseverance, resilience and tolerance.”

Hayley Bell, PA to Galliford Try Partnerships Managing Director in the North East, Sean Egan, is helping the school with the Challenge. She said: “This is the fifth year we’ve supported Children North East’s Sandcastle Challenge and we’re delighted to be both taking part and sponsoring the event again in this special 25th year.”

A team of 15 judges, including TV weathermen Paul Mooney from BBC Look North and Ross Hutchinson from ITV Tyne Tees will have the tough task of deciding on the top five best designs – each of which will be awarded £200 by the sponsor for their school.

The businesses will then go head to head for the much-coveted Sandcastle Challenge trophy presented to the company that has worked the hardest on behalf of their partner school at the charity’s Sandcastle Ball in September.

Carol Taylor, senior fundraiser for Children North East, said: “We’re really grateful to our sponsors, Galliford Try Partnerships North, for their dedicated support of the Sandcastle Challenge and we’re delighted with the enthusiastic response we’ve had from both schools and businesses for our 25th anniversary. It’s always exciting seeing how the children interpret the theme and I’m sure Build a New World will result in some fantastic and inspirational designs.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by pauline holt .