Kindhearted South Shields nursery children help others while celebrating harvest time

Harvest festivals have been an important part of Britain’s calendar for many centuries, a time of offering thanks for the food we eat, and thinking of others who may not have enough.

Schools and nurseries have traditionally held special assemblies to mark the occasion, and collected food to help others.

And these little ones from Nurserytime in South Shields are no different, having spent the past month or so collecting offerings and learning about this special time of year.

This included learning about the important work of food banks in South Tyneside and how they could help.

Nursery manager Helen Coulson said: “(Staff and children) have spent the past month gearing-up towards their Harvest celebration.

"Alongside organising a Harvest collection, the children discovered all of the learning opportunities that this season offers.

"They reflected on the significance of a plentiful Harvest and not only to be thankful and appreciative of what we have, but also to recognise the important work that wonderful local organisations like Hospitality and Hope do for our local community.”

Hospitality and Hope is a grassroots charity providing food bank services and other help to people in need, and were a cause staff and children at Nurserytime decided they should help at harvest time.

"Hospitality and Hope were extremely grateful to learn that they would be the recipients of our Harvest collection,” said Helen.

"Everyone at Nurserytime would like to say a special thank you to all of the parents that donated towards their Harvest offerings, as well as Angela, the Community Champion at Morrisons and Mavis, the Community Champion at Asda.”

Helen said the children also kept up the tradition of singing harvest songs, and had fun and learning outside in keeping with the season.

This included sessions in the community garden in North Marine Park, where the children learn about growing and the outdoors.

“The children performed special Harvest songs with their music teacher – known to the children as 'Tom the Music Man' – at their community garden space in North Marine Park,” said Helen.

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