Around Ealing Spring 2015 | Page 9

UP FRONT Fruit route takes root A new ‘fruit route’ will eventually connect two parts of the borough, as a group of residents work together on planting a trail of trees with the help of the council. Health on the cards Remember playing Top Trumps in the school playground? Well, now children can play using cards with a healthy message. More than two years ago, the council’s allotments manager and its school health improvement team joined forces with Ealing-based social enterprise I Know Why It’s Yum, Mum to put on various healthy eating workshops for pupils and pre-school children, often at the allotments or during school visits. The latest initiative has seen allotment plot holders help to illustrate a pack of 30 educational playing cards for children to use, in collaboration with Winning Moves, makers of Top Trumps. The Hanwell and Norwood Green Orchard Trail group is a community project started by residents, supported and organised in partnership with Ealing Council, to plant and care for a trail of native fruit trees. Natasha Gavin, founder of I Know Why It’s Yum, Mum, said: “Ealing Council helped us to make this genuine set of limited edition fruit and veg Top Trumps cards, to help children learn about how food grows and how healthy fruit and vegetables are. We will be giving these packs of cards to schools we visit.” Initially, the group planted 40 trees in February along the edges of the three Hanwell Meadows next to the canal and, in subsequent years, it plans to extend the trail along the canal in either direction, linking Hanwell and Norwood Green. Scores for the various foods are based on their nutritional values, with relevant and interesting facts also inc luded at the bottom of each card. Click to read the full story Closed down A drugs den in Ealing was shut down after an investigation by the council’s community safety team and police officers. Officers began investigating after complaints from the tenant’s family. They were helped by vital information provided by neighbours and local businesses about anti-social behaviour and disturbances linked to the flat. As well as being granted a closure order by the court, the police executed a drugs warrant and seized a large quantity of class B drugs. Cycling award Ealing Council’s Bike Swap initiative has won the Modeshift sustainable travel award for cycling. Bike Swap, developed in partnership with The Bicycle Society, involves parents and pupils exchanging bicycles they have outgrown for suitably sized models. Bikes are dropped off at the start of school, fixed by mechanics and then swapped after school. The council teamed up with St Gregory’s RC Primary to trial the Bike Swap, as part of a push to get more children to cycle to school, and it has now introduced the scheme to a number of other schools in the borough. To find out more email [email protected] St Gregory’s School children If you or anyone you know is suffering from the effects of anti-social behaviour, contact the council’s community safety team on 020 8825 7600 or visit www.ealing.gov.uk/crimeprevention around ealing Spring 2015 9