JLS at Malham Tarn

On Sunday 13^th March the UK’s most popular boyband JLS made an appearance at the Tarn. They were filming a sequence for their upcoming tour starting at the end of May this year.

The band appeared with a coach on the East Drive of the Tarn. The sequence filmed to be shown during the concert, was a story that the band were travelling to their next tour location around the UK when their bus broke down at the Tarn, the guys got out of the tour bus and started to play football.

A couple of local young fans who were in the area at the right time got to meet the band who were happy to have photos taken with the group. 

March so far

The start of March has brought many visiting groups to the centre. Recently Presdales School, Sir Thomas Wharton School and Robert Pattinson College have all brought A Level geographers.  Norton Knatchbull School and Fakenham College brought joint groups for A Level Environmental Science and Geography, travelling from Kent and Norfolk respectively.

At the centre we have freshwater display tanks in which we have had many species including trout, crayfish, mussels and other freshwater invertebrates.  Our two adult White Clawed Crayfish, Reggie and Claudia, went on an outing to Giggleswick School, as part of a careers talk given by local firm PBA Applied Ecology to inspire young people to look at a future in the environmental sector.  There is still so much that is not yet understood about our world - for instance, why is Reggie a startling blue colour?

As part of the second recruitment programme by the FSC to find new trainee tutors for all centres, we would like to welcome Cian Gill to the team as a member of the education department at Malham Tarn. Cian will be training and working at Malham Tarn over the next few months until a permanent position comes up at another FSC centre.

The Spring Newsletter is complete and all schools on our database will be receiving it over the next few weeks.

Summary of 2010 by Adrian Pickles (Head of Centre)

This is my tenth year as Head of Malham Tarn Field Centre and whilst I am getting the hang of things, there is always something new to learn and someone else to learn from. 2010 began and ended with snow and ice affecting everything that we did. Living and working on Malham Moor presents a number of challenges when the weather is cold and I should say thank you to the many people who helped us out particularly in the first three months of the year. The Tarn froze for 80 days in what was probably the coldest winter since 1982. Winter was followed by a cold and dry spring with less than 12 cm of rain between April and June. The moor stopped looking like Siberia in March and started to look like the Sahara in May- the grass didn’t seem to start growing until June; full details will, as usual be available in the 2011 Wildlife and Weather Report.

Malham Tarn Boat House on Tv!

In Autumn last year Channel Four filmed an episode of 'The Secret Supper Club' in the West Boat House on the shore of the Tarn. Using the kitchen up at centre to prepare food for the programme, they then set up a dinner party in the Boat House for three members of staff and local food producers.

The show is due to be aired on Channel Four, Saturday 19th Feb at 3.50pm.

Key Stage 2 Open Evening

On March 17^th from 5.30-8.30pm, Malham Tarn will open it’s doors to teachers and educators involved in Key Stage 2 teaching. The centre has many courses suitable for residential and day visits for this age group and we welcome you to have a look around the centre, meet the team of tutors and discuss the needs of your group over tea and cake!

To express an interest or for more information about this event tel; 01729 830 331

or email: enquiries.mt@field-studies-council.org

February 11th 2011

Since our last update the centre has been busy with a wide range of visitors.

Most recent groups to the centre include, St Hild’s from Hartlepool Year 9 students who took part in geography and team building sessions. King David High School from Manchester stayed for two nights to study geography for their A level exams. St Ambrose Barlow School from Liverpool walked from the Centre to Malham village collecting data on tourism in a National Park for their GCSE controlled assessment.

Malham Tarn Centre has had a spring clean for the visitors in the year ahead. Classrooms have been painted and displays around the centre have been created.

On the weekend of the 5^th-6^th Feb Malham hosted the Field Studies Council Executives meeting. The board of Trustees of the Charity and Heads of all the FSC Centres met to review the past twelve months. The event was highly successful and demonstrated the versatility of the centre and staff.

The Annual Malham Tarn Wildlife Weather Report 2010 is near completion and will be ready to download or purchase soon. Check back for the release date.

January 2011

2011 so far… January has been a quiet month at the centre for groups although due to the snow in December, three groups who were unable to get here have visited and completed their courses in the new school term. Snow once again made travel interesting for the first week back, however since then the weather has turned milder and the Tarn has thawed completely for the first time in nearly 2 months.

King’s Academy from Middlesbrough visited to do their GCSE Geography Controlled Assessment on tourism in the Malhamdale area. The Dark Peak Runners, an adult running group, also used the centre as a base for their annual meet.

Education staff have taken part in FSC wide training for science and geography, including reviews of the GCSE Geography Controlled Assessment and developing Key Stage 4 Science Courses.  It also equipped us to deliver the latest national survey from Opal, The Climate survey, to be launched in Spring of this year.

The centre is currently undergoing a full spring clean and painting of our classrooms is underway ready for the next students arriving at the beginning of February.