The club, which is 16 miles south of Aberdeen, decided that apart from the club’s usual litter picks and beach cleans, they should reach out to younger people in the community to get involved with environmental initiatives.
The Rotary club approached local schools with the offer of a financial incentive for them to devise a project which could benefit the environment.
Mill of Forest Primary School had managed to raise the funds for an 8 metre by 4 metre polytunnel, and the Stonehaven Men’s Shed helped pave the inside, fit staging and install a remote watering system.
The project team has gone above and beyond in putting this together and we cannot wait to get growing!”
Three Rotarians, who are also trustees of Stonehaven Men’s Shed, were part of the team involved in the project at the school, in both the design of the layout, and the implementation.
The decision was made to go for a rainwater harvesting system as the polytunnel is situated 50 metres from the nearest water source.
The project aims to convince younger people in the community to get involved with environmental initiatives.
This involved fitting guttering along the longer 8 metre sides of the polytunnel and feeding the water into four catchment barrels dug into the ground outside the building.
From there it flows inside the tunnel to a holding tank, and then it is pumped up into another four storage barrels inside the tunnel.
The challenge was powering the pump with no electricity supply. The solution was to provide a solar powered pump system plus a backup hose delivery from the school.
Stonehaven Rotary provided the finance for this solar pump and the pipework for the back-up water supply.
The system has now been installed and tested by Stonehaven Men’s Shed and the polytunnel is ready for use when the planting season begins.
This project meets two objectives of Stonehaven Rotary in contributing to environmental enhancement while working closely with other community groups.
Debbie Thomson, Stonehaven Rotary President said: “Stonehaven Rotary was pleased it could support this project as it fits in beautifully with our objectives on helping save the planet by encouraging local schools, via a financial incentive, to initiate projects which involve the environment and nature.
“Funding items for their polytunnel as well as a solar pump system for recycling rainwater seemed an ideal way to encourage this and we are delighted to have been able to join Men’s Shed in making this happen”
This project meets two objectives of Stonehaven Rotary in contributing to environmental enhancement while working closely with other community groups.”
Trish Martin, Headteacher, Mill of Forest Primary School added: “We are really pleased with our new polytunnel, and we are so grateful to the Men’s Shed for putting so much hard work into it and to Rotary for their contribution in funding the water system.
“All the extra parts, including the rainwater collection system with its the solar pump, will help us to engage the children in learning about science, technology, engineering and maths as well as the environment and all of the benefits that come with outdoor learning.
“The project team has gone above and beyond in putting this together and we cannot wait to get growing!
“A big thank you to everyone involved from all at Mill Of Forest School.”
