SHout Walk on the Wildside secured a grant from the Armed Forces Community Covenant (AFCC) Grant Scheme in 2016, to deliver outreach activities to aid Community Integration in South East Kent creating strong local links between the Armed Forces and civilian communities.

The programme started at Cheriton Primary School in the coldest months but this didn’t bother the 200 children from Key Stage 1 aged 5 and 6 and they braved the elements.  They undertook team building activities in conservation, planting, bug hunting and develop the very wild area.

Along the way Shout was lucky to secure volunteers from the Engineering Department at Canterbury College who helped with the development of the pond area, they made short work of taking down fences and relocating it.

Weekend family days took place, this enabled family and community interaction, as well as seeing what their children had done during the project, the families were key to the foundations of the project and saw the parents putting up fencing, weeding and helping to shape the development of the forest hub area.  The family days were so important during the delivery of the covenant bid and shaped the project going forward so much so that SHout continued with voluntary staff from SHout to deliver the family sessions.

Key Stage 2 worked at a higher level and secured an the John Muir Award in Conservation, and each year progress to the next stage of a national recognised certificate.

Shepway signed the AFCC document in 2012 the first in Kent.  There Armed Forces Covenant document sets out a relationship between the council and the armed forces. It recognises that the whole nation has a moral obligation to current and former members of the armed forces and their families, if you want to know more about the document or the grant scheme contact your local council lead Alex Sansom, Community Development Officer communitydevelopment@shepway.gov.uk 

Fancy a read all you need to know about the covenant is at the links below: