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Ellen in library at Anthony Gell School where she read about sailing as a child

Ellen in library at Anthony Gell School where she read about sailing as a child

I went back to school recently…literally!…with an impromptu visit to my old school, Anthony Gell in Wirksworth. It is now a specialist sports college and it was great to reminisce about the old days with Headteacher David Baker. I also went back to the school library to have a look at the books that I borrowed while I was there and which inspired me to sail! (see photo)

 

I also had the opportunity to go to another really interesting school in the area, Herbert Strutt Primary School in Belper.

18 months ago, the school moved from an old building in the centre of Belper to a new build on a brand site. Everyone, from Headteacher John Murday to the teachers and pupils alike, appears to have a real sense of pride in what is a very nice-looking building which has been designed to be as energy efficient as possible. In talking with the Head John, some of the key sustainable elements that have worked well are rain-water harvesting for loos, PV cells for lighting, bore holes for heating and hot water and effective double glazing.

However, the final element of the jigsaw needed to get the school to a carbon neutral position is a 25m wind turbine – and the school has had difficulties getting planning permission for this for the last two years. 

I have to say I really enjoyed these visits and it was really heartwarming to see two schools with inspirational heads who are working hard to motivate and to look after their pupils.

Ellen

7 comments have been made

  • Laurence
  • 25th April, 2009

Lol , good lord tis weird enough returning to old places, but the concept of somehow leaving ones mark and being responsible for being an influence as your yourself once were. Wow

Another point on eduction , i have many friends who are teachers and most people in education seem to now denounce exams as an ineffectual means of testing . Given your career choice (and im not asking what your GSCE’s were here ;) ) Do you feel there should be more or less influence on the memory based examinations ? (being a dyslexic I’m biased against them ;) )

Hello Ellen,

It was good to see another post actually.

Coming to the types of solutions related to conservation etc. which you have decided to include in your post, in a country which not only receives a lot of rain, but where the soil structure happens to be such that one does not really have to dig a lot, or bore to depths which would be considered not only costly to bore to but expensive to pump water from as well, shouldn’t the expenditure on rain water harvesting be considered a step too far, or for that matter wasteful. When you don’t have to spend a lot to pump it out in any case, why waste money on extra infrastructure to harvest that particular resource; infrastructure which would then need managing and servicing as well.

Another thing worth mentioning is, related to the stuff mentioned in the post and not the previous point, that in a country, or a region, which is famous for its gray skies, can the use of Photo Voltaics be considered wise. If a particular equipment is never going to work any where near its optimum capacity, then usually it’s not considered a wise investment. Anyhow, I am not really that knowledgeable about these topics, just passing thoughts.

I would like to end by apologizing for being a bit skeptical about the appearance of another post any time soon. As I have said, apologies for that.

Take care,

Irfan.

  • Guido
  • 29th April, 2009

Hi Ellen,

What a nice story and what a great photo!
Coincidentally in my home that same book is book of the day! And book of the week and book of the month and book of the year… It is one of the most important books I ever read. I haven’t read the book about Gipsy Moth though, I am going to find out if it is still available.
I don’t know if my old school is working on reducing its carbon footprint but at work we are doing a better job every day. We also have solar cells on the roof and with server virtualization our computer rooms already use less power.
At the moment I am preparing for a charity event on the 4th of June in France for which I will coordinate the IT matters like the website, webcams, communication and time registration. A few hundred people will climb Alpe d’Huez on their bicycle 6 times or more on one day! Last year the event collected over 3.5 million Euro’s for the Dutch Cancer foundation (KWF). This year we will certainly collect even more! I will send you the link to our website when it is on air.

Guido

Hi Ellen
Sorry for writing this via your blog. It’s way off topic so I’m honestly not bothered about it being published. It’s a bit sneaky I guess but I just thought it the most likely way for you to see my message.

I’m writing to let you know of the positive influence you have been for me. I know you probably get a lot of this sort of thing.

I’ve been thinking recently of how fortunate and happy I am these days and the change for the better I’ve been through in the last few years. I have disability which makes walking very difficult and I have recently taken up sailing. You will know what I mean when I say that the sense of freedom from sailing is just amazing. Well you can multiply that feeling for me.

Sailing is also a great leveller. On land I’m restricted with what I can do but at sea I’m no different to most others. A recent example is I have just completed a sail from The Azores to England with a crew. I was treated the same as all the others and I did all the same jobs as everyone else (well except the cooking, I can’t cook to save my life - thank God for pot noodle is all I can say). So apart from the black art of producing something edible from the galley, I worked hard and was able to work the boat just like anybody else. It feels like such an achievement.

The reason for this particular trip was to get some long haul offshore experience. My dream is to sail the Atlantic Ocean single-handed. I’m not intending to use your blog to promote myself, but I just wanted to tell you that the reason that I’m working towards this goal at all is, in part, thanks to you. There are many people I have to be thankful for in some way or another, but the catalyst for getting me going was being influenced by the story of your success.

You wrote about buying a boat with your dinner money when you were younger. After I read that I thought surely I could have my own boat. You see up until then I thought that owning a boat was only for the rich….And actually it is, since I bought my little boat I’m always skint… I completely misinterpreted that! However, I’m still really glad I started because it’s changed my life for the better – even though I can now only afford to eat soup (joking).

I can even say that if my solo sail across the Atlantic doesn’t happen, I consider the fact that I’m sailing at all huge achievement in itself. That said, I won’t be completely satisfied until I have achieved my dream. I’m not sure what to do next but it all just feels right somehow.

Anyway, I just wanted you to know that.

PS: It’s really hard to write something like this without sounding like a complete nutter.

Julian

  • Laurence
  • 3rd July, 2009

“PS: It’s really hard to write something like this without sounding like a complete nutter.

Julian”

Join the club ;) (im sure some of us are on a list somewhere , of well meaning nice nutters of course )

  • Jade
  • 16th November, 2009

Hi Ellen,
Remember me?
I am a pupil at Herbert Strutt Primary…I was in year 5 when you can with dark blonde hair…Now im in year 6 with short hair! It was really good meeting you! Thanks for putting our school on your blog! I’m going to show this website to my school! Bye now x Jade x

  • Evelina
  • 15th January, 2010

Dear Ellen,

Last year I attended the Sustainability Annual Conference organised by UK Green Building Council.
I was moved by your speech and I was wondering how we can get in contact with you to discuss whether you would be able to support my project in delivering the message accross to the employees.

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This is the personal Blog of me, Ellen MacArthur. I will be posting regular updates and news on my life and passions…

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