Hillcroft School garden fete

Saturday, June 17th was a bright cloudy day.  Just ideal weather for Hillcroft School’s  first ever garden fete. As mentioned in a previous Kerr’s Corner, this year marks the fortieth anniversary of the school’s formation. The fete was an ideal opportunity for the pupils, their parents and the staff to show the new school premises off to the public and to raise much needed funds for the PTA.

  I had the opportunity for a brief tour around the school and its impressive new facilities. It will be a wonderful asset to bring out the best in youngsters whose parents are often at their wits end when they first discover that their child has some kind of learning disability.

  All the usual features of a garden fete were present. Two bouncy castles – one for under tens and the other for children over ten – proved very popular as did the hotdog stand, the icecream stall, the face-painters and the tea bar.  As for the homemade Rhubarb and Clove jam on one stall, Delicious!  Look out for it next year.

  I need hardly remind readers that world cup fever is in the air.  This must have encouraged quite a few youngsters to pit their penalty kicking skills against the PTA’s star goalie.  Although knackered at the end of the proceedings, he didn’t let too many get past him. 

  It was good to see the involvement of the NI Fire and Rescue Service, the NI Ambulance Service’s community education Paramedi-Kidz and the local police,  Youngsters were queuing up to sit in a police car and have a go at working the flashing blue lights.  They were shown the ropes by the local community beat officer, Constable Mark McAllister and his colleague, Constable Glenn Pollard.  They gave me a rundown on their work in child safety schemes and the Bee Safe initiative and the local police’s interest in educating children of the important role of the emergency services.