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FSC News

‘The One Show’ visits EFFC

BBC1’s topical evening programme ‘The One show’ visited Epping Forest Field Centre on Tuesday 1st June to film children participating in the Centre’s “Minibeast and Forest Explorers” themed family drop in day, broadcast on Wednesday 2nd June.

A new book suggests that children are suffering from a new concept labelled Nature Deficit Disorder. Recent research indicates a threat to the health of children due to a lack of contact with nature. Some experts claim children are damaging their health by spending hours indoors sitting in front of computer screens rather than playing outside. Evidence suggests that there are both psychological and physiological benefits to getting out and about in a green open space.

Presenter Rani Price and naturalist Terry Nutkins joined children in their minibeast hunt in the Centre grounds where, much to the children’s delight, they found beetles, centipedes, woodlice, snails and even toads and newts. During sensory based activities they also discovered the sights, sounds and smells of the Forest.

Terry Nutkins promotes a lifestyle whose foundations are built upon experiencing nature. “All our senses are lying dormant, our sense of smell, our sight, our hearing – we don’t use it anywhere near the way we should be using it. You have to allow children to be children - all they need is a little bit of guidance; once you show them what to look for they’ll start doing it themselves. For children to go out into woods like this is a real adventure, it teaches them responsibility, it teaches them sensitivity. Nature needs children as well, as that’s the only way our planet is going to survive”.

Anneke Kempton, Field Tutor at Epping Forest Field Centre, was involved in the days filming.

She commented “The film crew followed us out into the Forest and filmed the children learning how to find minibeasts in the soil, leaf litter and under logs and then recorded the children searching and exploring nature for themselves. I was asked to talk about why we offer these programmes and why they are beneficial, and explained that the children are not only outdoors having fun but are also learning through discovery and exploration and we hope that through this learning they will foster an appreciation and respect for the natural world. It was a fantastic day”.

Epping Forest Field Centre, managed by the Field Studies Council on behalf of the City of London Corporation, is extremely pleased to have had the opportunity to showcase the work that is done at the Centre and other FSC Centres across the country in order to promote important lifetime learning experiences.