I'm very happy to announce Roots and Shoots Makes a Splash!
A community open day event in London celebrating the joys of aquatic life on Saturday 10th June, 2023
Both @Courtneybst and I work at Roots and Shoots, an independant educational and environmental charity based in Kennington, South London which has an ethos of bringing people and nature together for the wellbeing of all. We host biannual community open days which celebrate nature and creativity, and for our summer event we're working together to bring you a fabulous watery day of fun.A community open day event in London celebrating the joys of aquatic life on Saturday 10th June, 2023
For more than 40 years UNESCO award-winning London charity Roots and Shoots has been providing education and vocational training in horticulture, floristry and retail to young people from the inner city with special educational needs, giving them the skills and self-confidence to equip them for work. Alongside the vocational and life skills training, Roots and Shoots provides environmental education to local schools and the wider community based on its acclaimed half-acre Wild Garden, an important green space for urban biodiversity, which specialises in pollinating insects and local conservation. The address is Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, Kennington, London, SE11 6DN, with the closest tube stations being Lambeth North and Kennington, and a short walk from Waterloo.
Our own @George Farmer will be doing an aquascaping demonstration, and @taistrietman will be doing a biotope-building demostration to show people how they can build beautiful aquariums which are good homes for fish. We'll also have the lovely aquarists from the Horniman Museum Aquarium visiting to talk about coral reefs and a bit about their amazing coral breeding research. Finally, Kim Le Bruielly of the British Herpetological Society will be doing a talk on the Wonder of Frogs.
Across the site, there's also pond dipping, a wabi kusa-building workshop, a children's art workshop, storytelling and more. Stalls will be selling arts, crafts, accessories, jewellery, ceramics and plants (grown on site, focusing on plants for pollinating insects), as well as homemade cakes, delicious vegan food and candy floss, as well as charities including the Freshwater Life Project and RSPB. As you may have seen already from @Courtneybst 's latest fabulous journal, we will have a Planted Aquarium Gallery with a selection of small tanks in a range of styles to inspire people to get involved, with sponsored help from @Aquarium Gardens @Riverwood Aquatics, @Horizon Aquatics and Wildwoods World of Water. On the day, we'll also be getting help from our London Aquascaping Union friends @Sid.scapes @LondonAquascaper, @the.fishtories and @i.am.adonis.
This event has really come about because of the UKAPS community - we have learnt so much and had so much fun, we can't wait to spread our enthusiasm and passion to a whole lot of Londoners this summer! We'd love to see you there 🥰
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I can even walk there from my place and offer a helping hand if needed 
