"Every child needs someone to introduce them to nature" - Rachel Carson author of Silent Spring

In this episode we hear how one woman came up with the idea for a GCSE in Natural History - a way for children to be introduced to nature. So where did the idea come from, what would an exam look like, and how far has she got? She had the idea in 2011.

In this episode we learn what it takes to introduce a new exam and the reasons that despite many setbacks, Mary Colwell is not giving up, indeed she is determined to see this through.

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Music: Fade to Black - Howard Levy

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

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Why is a tiny plant from Janet Hickenbottom's childhood so important? And what was the special thing that her mum Margaret shared with Janet and her brother that has stayed with her for all her life?

Lee Connelly is also a bit obsessed by this thing and he's on a mission to make sure we don't miss out on it....and even if we weren't given it as children, like Janet was, he promises we can still get it.

And learn to grow a plant that you can literally fit anywhere - it only requires the tiniest of spaces and it's guaranteed to spread.

Our Plant Stories is Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman.

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When we think of 'allotment history' we perhaps have images from the two world wars with the population being urged to cultivate every spare bit of land from parks to bomb craters. But to really understand our relationship with these spaces we need to go back much further in time.

Lally Snow has written a book called My Family and Other Seedlings and in this episode she tells us how she has woven this history into her own experiences of growing food on an allotment with the aid of 3 under 5 year olds.

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Produced and Presented by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

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