In November 2007, a Junior Warden scheme was started by the Neighbourhood Wardens, in Upper Beeding.  We have 14 children that take part and they are from the local area.

The aim of the Junior Warden scheme is to give local children the opportunity to improve their community and to contribute to making it a cleaner and safer place to live and visit.  The local community benefits through the hard work of the children to improve their neighbourhood and the children benefit by learning to respect and take pride in the area they live.

Projects take place fortnightly although we do have some long term activities that the children are working on, such as the restoration and care of their garden in Manor Road, Upper Beeding.  Projects to date have included:

• Cleaning the children's play area on the Upper Beeding field.
• Cleaning the bus shelter on the High Street.
• Litter picking various areas around Upper Beeding.
• Painting over a graffitied wall near the primary school with anti-graffiti paint.
• Clearing, weeding and digging in compost for the Junior Warden garden.

Future activities will include running a SID (Speed Indication Device) on the High Street (with the help of the Neighbourhood Wardens) to warn people of their speed, and learning first aid.  We try to let them play a major role in deciding what activities we can do, based on their perception of their neighbourhood.

While the children do work very hard, it isn't all work and no play for them.  They also take part in trips and treats to reward them for their efforts.  So far their rewards have included a night in Horsham to see the Christmas pantomime 'Dick Whittington', an afternoon of bowling and a family and friends barbecue.

On the 24th of April the Junior Wardens took to a wall near the primary school and painted over all of the graffiti in white paint.  The wall is now clean and much more pleasant for children and parents to pass on their way to school.  It has also been covered in anti-graffiti paint to stop further graffiti attempts.

The kids have been working very hard on this garden and it is already much improved.  So far all of the weeds have been pulled out, the debris removed and compost dug into the ground.  The kids have also started planting seeds which will soon be transferred into the ground.

Please see our photo gallery.

 

The garden has now been rotavated and some turf has been laid to outline the plant beds.  This week we will begin planting flowers and vegetables that have been growing since their potting from seeds by the children.  We would like to thank the very kind neighbours in Manor Road for their help in lending us equipment.

The garden is now well on the way to being complete, however it will need regular maintenance.  The judges visited the site on the 30th of June and were most impressed with the hard work the children have put in and the brilliant outcome. 

Upper Beeding held their Village Day on the 28th of June, which was a wonderful success, bringing together much of the community for fun and laughter.

The Wardens and Junior Wardens had the most action-packed and excitement-filled stall (of course) which consisted of tin can alley and apple bobbing.  Luckily it was a warm day (with a few gaining very silly sunburn marks - red socks anyone?) and the apple bobbing was in high demand, certainly the tub of water sans apples was!  Who knew that 5p to dunk your head would be such a money spinner?

Well done to the children for their help with running the stall.

On Sunday the 20th July, the children were taken on a trip to the Mercury FM Radio Station.  They were shown around the station by Louise Martin (Mercury newsreader) and they got to chat to the DJ and see him in action.  Many thanks to PCSO Andy Reed who accompanied the children on the trip.

The Junior Wardens will be back at their award winning Manor Road garden after school on Oct 9th to weed and begin preparing the garden for winter please feel free to stop and say hello if you are passing !

The Upper Beeding junior wardens will be joining the Steyning junior wardens to go to the Capitol theatre, Horsham to see Peter Pan on the 11th December! this is a well deserved reward for all they're hard work throughout the year in their community.

Work has resumed on the Junior Warden garden in Manor Road, after delays due to weather and other problems what had turned into a jungle is returning to a garden similar to last year!!

We have a vegetable patch again and were pleased to find some wild poppys which we have kept! also the raspberrys are better established and we may get more than three raspberrys this year!

we have planted some more perrenials to make the garden easier long term and have acquired a variety of plants from the 'freecycle' website and would like to thank all those who kindly donated them.

Also we are looking for an old traditional style bird table for the garden if anyone can help with this please use the contact us section on this site!