Pupils from St Joseph’s School and Nursery, Forest View Academy and Park Gate Academy in Ollerton create harvest festival boxes through Newark and Sherwood District Council scheme to donate to Lifespring Centre food bank

Schoolchildren have been getting creative and showing their generosity by creating harvest festival boxes and giving back to the community.

Supported by Arts Development at Newark and Sherwood District Council, pupils from St Joseph’s School and Nursery, Forest View Academy and Park Gate Academy in Ollerton all made harvest festival boxes, decorated in workshops with paper craft artist, Sarah Manton.

Children enjoyed experimenting with ways of making different textures and designs, being inventive and creating food like a dragon fruit and durian fruit.

Many of the boxes created by the children were filled with food and donated to those in need, with some being given directly to the community and some taken to food banks such as the Lifespring Centre in Ollerton.

The council’s deputy leader, Rowan Cozens, said: “It’s wonderful to see the children working hard, bringing smiles to people who need them, both with their generosity and their creativity.

“What’s really special about supporting projects like this is that it’s of benefit both to local people in need in these trying times and the children who had fun letting their imaginations run wild through art.”

There are a number of council run schemes for food donation including the Crop Drop initiative which enables allotment holders to donate food to food clubs, food banks, schools, colleges and other organisations.

A list of local food clubs which can offer support to residents struggling in the cost of living crisis, some of which do accept donations, can be found on the District Council website.