CBeebies star joins Buxton school children for community spring clean

Gemma Hunt, familiar to many for her work on BBC CBeebies and CBBC channels, joined pupils from Fairfield Endowed Junior School for a litter pick in streets and green spaces surrounding the school.

Fairfield is part of the Peak District National Park’s new ambassador schools initiative, which aims to engage promotes the benefits of outdoor learning and enables young people to enjoy, care for and take pride in the park.

The litter pick was led by Jackie Wragg, youth engagement officer with South West Peak Landscape Partnership, and also marked the start of Keep Britain Tidy’s Great Spring Clean season – reported to have collected up nearly half a million bags of rubbish nationwide.

Jackie said: “It’s great to be able to provide our ambassador schools with this type of equipment, to give pupils a real experience of getting outdoors and caring for the environment.”

The ambassador schools programme is supported by an £8,900 grant from US insulated products brand Hydro Flask via the Peak District National Park Foundation.

Thanks to that funding, each of the eight ambassador schools has received a set of and waterproofs and wellies from The Outdoor Guide Foundation (TOG) – for whom Gemma is an official ambassador.

The programme, which launched last autumn, has also supplied schools with litter picking equipment and a box of kit for outdoor activities which will help pupils connect with and learn about nature in new ways.

Sarah Slowther, fundraising manager for the park foundation, said: “We’re delighted that ambassador school activities are underway. We’d like thank Hydro Flask and TOG for their generosity, which means that all children have access to appropriate clothes and equipment. It really helps us to inspire the next generation of nature lovers.

“Big thanks, too, to Gemma for joining the litter pick. It was a lovely surprise for the children and they really seemed to enjoy having some celebrity support.”

To learn more about the ambassador schools programme, go to https://bit.ly/3OnRBUo.

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