Last spring, over 363 young artists and photographers across the Staffordshire Moorlands, took part in MCA’s third Art Competition.  We asked them to choose a wildflower that they liked, then to look very closely at the one they had chosen and either draw, paint or photograph it. We also asked that they identify their flower and tell us why they liked it and where it was found.

It was very difficult to choose winners from the wonderful range of entries we received. Ca0. Also to Manifold C of E Primary School, who enabled several classes to be involved. In Ipstones, one class at St. Leonards C of E school submitted lovely photographs of wildflowers taken in and outside their school grounds.

It was a pleasure to meet so many of the young winners and artists who came to our Green Arts Festival HUG at Foxlowe Arts Centre on 22 June. Here they received their certificates and prizes. The entrants ranged in age from 4 to12 years. We hope that through our competition, these 363 children enjoyed getting to know a little more about our lovely Moorland Wildflowers and can help to protect them in the future. Our congratulations to Izzy, the overall winner, with her beautiful daffodil drawing.

Go to the Gallery to see all the other Winners!

Read more: MCA Youth Action Spring Art Competition

This spring, we held our annual art competition for children with the theme of flowers.  The work was in four age ranges: 4-5 years, 5-7 years, 7-9 years and 9-12 years, Here are the winners! click on the picture to enlarge.

4-5 Years

5-7 Years

7-9 Years

 9-12 Years

Visits to nature sites and school-based learning outside of the classroom are becoming a rare event in many schools that face constraints both on resources and curriculum content. Research shows that young children are losing touch with nature for many reasons, not least due to more emphasis on screen-based experiences and social media. This is having a detrimental effect on their wellbeing, plus their experience of and connection with the natural world.

For our third Moorlands Wild Week we wanted to help children explore and appreciate our wide open green spaces and the wildlife that they contain. Many children do not get the opportunity to independently visit the Nature reserves and beautiful places in their immediate or wider neighbourhood. Many hardly know or can identify the names of our trees, wild creatures or wildflowers, let alone appreciate the need for their conservation, so we were thrilled this year to have 200 children from three schools (Beresford Memorial First, Endon Hall Primary and Leek First) taking part.

Our volunteer team helped them to discover and identify a variety of wildflowers, bugs, and pollinators, some in their schools’ own green spaces, some at Tittesworth’s wildflower meadow and some at the Foxlowe garden in Leek.

Read more: Moorlands Wild Week – June 2024

Jojo is an inspirational young activist, who in 2022 was named Young Ocean Optimist of the Year by The Marine Conservation Society, despite having enough issues of his own to deal with. Here's a report from his Mum.

We adopted Jojo as a baby. He has Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder from being exposed to alcohol whilst in the womb, ADHD and a learning disability. Despite that, he's exceptionally intelligent and his brain works in a magnificent way. Just over 3 years ago, age 6, he was due to have surgery for a colostomy. Before he went into hospital, I asked him what he wanted to do before he went in, and he said "I want to save the oceans". He'd always had a love of the oceans, spotting sharks and dolphins in books from an early age.

Read more: Jojo – Young Planet Activist and Outstanding Litter Picker

The Advent season last December saw an exciting joint venture with the Young Phoenix singers at the Old Grammar school in Leek. It was part of the OUTSIDE Arts 24 Doors Advent Event. The project was entitled Christmas Hope - for our (their) Future, to mirror MCA’s strapline ‘For our Future NOW!’ 

It was a magical event, albeit a marathon for the young singers, who sang practically non-stop for 3 hours, against an atmospheric Christmas and wildlife themed backdrop. Not only carols but also our climate song, Do It Now! There were well over 200 visitors, many of whom didn’t know about MCA before but who do now!  All family groups had our MCA flyer, repair cafe flyer and a young Phoenix flyer. They also had a Christmas card showing our Earth, the words ‘Christmas Hope - For our Future’ followed by the names of all the young singers.

Read more: Advent Youth Action

Leek First School is a Plastic free ‘Ally’, helping Leek to become a Plastic Free Community, but they are also very interested in becoming a Plastic Free School. Sally has done an assembly for them all about single use plastics and they are setting up a ‘Plastic Free Squad’. She is going to go into school to work with them to help them achieve Plastic Free School status. We shall let you know how we get on.

Read more: Schools, a Youth Club and a College