Pupils celebrate autumns mellow fruitfulness at showground
AROUND 130 pupils from five local primary schools gathered to take part in an autumn harvest celebration at the Newbury Showground on Monday.
Woolhampton Primary, Burghfield St Mary’s Primary, Beedon Primary, Basildon Primary and Purley Infant schools were all in attendance at this year’s celebrations.
The event, run by Newbury and District Agricultural Society as part of its education programme for local schools, was designed to help the children understand where their food comes from, and to promote healthy eating.
Among the highlights was the weighing of pumpkins grown by pupils at the schools to see which one managed to produce the biggest specimen.
The award was won by a Year 5 pupil at Woolhampton Primary, who said the secret to his 16kg pumpkin was watering it twice a day and covering it with a blanket at night.
The children also had the opportunity to try apple-bobbing, hear the story of Johnny Appleseed – a US pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of the country – and watch a cooking demonstration, showing them how to make apple crumble and pumpkin soup, along with tastings.
The education officer for the Newbury and District Agricultural Society, Jan Murray, said: “The day was a great success and I was particularly impressed with the winning pumpkin. It was huge and took three people to lift it to be weighed.”
