Sailors Volunteer To Help Gardening For Local Schools

Cover: sailors cut back some vegetation. (Picture: Royal Navy)

Volunteers from HMS Sultan visited two schools in Stubbington to help them with gardening and improving their outward appearance.

Trainees from the Defence College of Technical Training’s Defence School of Marine Engineering spent several days at Crofton Hammond Junior and Crofton Hammond Infant Schools.

They helped with a series of activities, including clearing away vegetation, repotting plants, planting flower beds and painting rails and a gazebo.

Matt Dunne, Engineering Technician, said: “We’ve all enjoyed volunteering at the school. The teachers have all said what a good job we’ve done and how they would never have been able to get the jobs done.”

“The activity has been good for team building and it’s good for the children to see the Navy out doing something positive within the local community.”

Jacky Halton, Headteacher at Crofton Hammond Infant School, said the volunteers "undertook a huge number of tasks and gave the school a massive lift":

“We loved the way that they interacted with the children in a totally appropriate way.

"I had several children who talked to me about them and then went on to say that they would like to be in the Navy when they grew up!

“Over 30% of our children are from service families so it has been a really positive experience for them, but also for the other 70% who have had a chance to find out some of the work done by the Navy - in addition to working 'aboard'!”

Stubbington is 13 miles away from HMNB Portsmouth, one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Navy.