Built by generations!
‘Learning from Each Other’ – since 1994
Shimna’s stunning setting between the mountains and the sea, and surrounded by forest, woodland and parkland has always placed environmental engagement at the top of the agenda. Students have won awards for gardening, for litter picking both in the school and within the community, for tree planting, for putting out bee boxes, bat boxes, planting bulbs and building a bug hotel. Community partners in the Rainbows. Brownies and Guides joined in the tree planting.
So many groups and individuals have been involved in creating and maintaining our greenhouse that it would be impossible to include everyone.
Of all the Shimna building projects, the greenhouse was perhaps the most inclusive and collaborative project. The idea for the home-made greenhouse developed after our wonderful visiting Intern from Germany, Nina Gerlach, disclosed how horrified she was at the contrast between Ireland and Germany in terms of our attitude to plastic bottles. All our classrooms had recycling bins of course, but we had to face the fact that she had a point. We were aware of the good example of All Children’s next door, where the children had built a greenhouse with plastic bottles.
Our plan was that a plastic-bottle-greenhouse project would focus everyone’s attention on just how many single use bottles we bought and discarded, as well as providing an excellent facility to inspire our environmental work through gardening.
A bit of specialist help was required, which arrived in the person of a volunteer from Business in the Community interning with us for a couple of days, and who turned out to be a qualified joiner. Our visitor got us off to a great start, supervising the digging of foundations and putting together the wooden framework which would structure the bottle walls. Our Public Services Diploma students were delighted to learn the skills and see real achievement. Pick axe, spirit level, screw driver, hammer, spade, clamp…
Once the frame was in place, support arrived from facilities manager Robbie Mulholland, and the Public Services group got started harvesting bottles from the recycling bins and threading them onto bamboos to be nailed into place to form the walls.
Foundations were laid within the corner posts, built with sand and slabs, then the walls were carefully slotted in. Once the walls were in place, work began on hanging the door, also made with bottle panels. A roof was created from recycled corrugated plastic.
The finishing touch was a neat little window box on the front window sill.
Once the Public Services crew completed the building work, the Prince’s Trust group took over to do the painting. First up, Joan McAllister led her crew with a smart black and white colour scheme which was beautifully set off by geraniums in the window box. Students again had a brilliant opportunity to learn the techniques, this time from Joan who was an experienced painter/decorator.
In later years, the bottles did of course begin to crumble and bamboos don’t last forever. Robbie ensured that succeeding groups of students always had recyclable materials to hand: rescued wood and wired windowpanes.
Níamh Lindsay and the Prince’s Trust group decided that a refresh was required, and the greenhouse was repainted a fetching bluish grey.
When the GCSE horticulture class got underway, a wormery was added, entertaining and horrifying visitors at once. Composting was an essential part of the course, and Robbie added to the wormery and the bokashi bins by using recycled pallets to build a huge compost bin and a potting table for planting sessions.
