Last month we went along to visit the Pupil Voice group at Hesleden Primary School to talk to the children about a number of environmental issues. At the top of the agenda that day was the problem of dog fouling in some parts of the village so we asked the pupils if they would like to take part in a competition to design a poster aimed at encouraging dog walkers to clean up after their pets (please see post dated Friday 3 February 2017 for background information).
As arranged we called back into school today to help the teachers select the winning entry. Our task was made so difficult because of the huge range and very high quality of posters designed by the children but after much deliberation we finally managed to select three designs from unnamed entries which we thought would be most effective in terms of design and slogan (the names of the winning entrants can be found on the school Twitter account).
We bought books to present as prizes to the winning entrants and we gave all the other entrants as small gift to reward them for their efforts and to ensure that nobody went home empty handed.
After some discussion with the teachers we decided to ask the three winning entrants to composite their posters into one which we will then arrange to have made into a large banner to be placed on the school perimeter fence.
We are sure that once the banner is in place the message will be quite clear that dog fouling in our streets, play areas and open spaces is not acceptable, and we are all hopeful that the tiny minority of dog walkers responsible will begin to clean up after their pets.
Once again our thanks go to the teachers and children of Hesleden Primary School for their enthusiasm in taking part in this competition and also for their signature warm welcome. We would also like to thank staff at Wellfield School for their kind offer to redesign the winning entries into a large banner for public display.
We look forward to going back to the school very soon to unveil the new artwork!