A tiny teddy bear taken around the world by sailor Dee Caffari led to an Alverstoke school becoming involved in a European project to raise awareness about problems facing the marine environment.
Pupils at the Gosport junior school had asked Dee to take the bear with her on her first solo round-the-world trip and she received such a vast amount of publicity in sailing-mad France that the school was invited to join the AWARE project, Around the World, a Race for the environment.
The youngsters linked up with pupils at two schools in France, along with one each in Poland and Spain to produce a charter to take care of the sea and a copy was given to each skipper taking part in the Vendee Globe race around the world that took place last November, one of the school’s governors Richard Baker Jones told club members.
He said the children in the five participating schools had jointly agreed the wording of the ten-point charter – such as keeping the sea free from pollution and respecting protected areas.
As well as producing the charter youngsters worked on an aspect of the marine environment in their own locality. The Alverstoke pupils learned how rubbish discarded miles inland could end up in the Solent and they collected litter from Stokes Bay and they even made a figure of King Neptune from rubbish collected on the beach. The talk was well illustrated with slides of all the children’s activities including some of French and Polish pupils who had visited Alverstoke and one of the impressive King Neptune.
The project ends in June with a visit by teachers and children from Alverstoke to the Polish school near Krakow involved with them. It was funded by a €25,000 grant from Comenius, the European Union’s lifelong learning programme that aims to help young people better understand the range of European cultures, languages and values. It also helps young people acquire the basic life skills and competences necessary for personal development, future employment and active citizenship.
Club member Christine Wilkes, a retired teacher, thanked Mr Baker Jones for his interesting talk and gave him a cheque for £50 that will go to his personal favourite charity Visoi Children’s Centre International in Kenya’s Rift Valley.
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