26th June 2009   MORE PLANS, MORE IDEAS MORE FUNDS NEEDED.   Here are some of our plans for the rest of this year and for next year   This year. Develop the Mediterranean Garden. Next Year. Fund raise for the tropical dome. Next Year. Camp Dragon. A weekend Music & Camping Festival for students and their families,staff their families and friends of Dragon.   26th June 2009   It's our Birthday and we're 1  Dragon is a year old this summer and we're going to celebrate by having a party!   July 15th is the date for our Dragon festival celebration day. All sorts of people are coming to see us and it going to be lots of fun.   Charlotte Corney from the zoo will officially open the day for us.   22nd June We've a won national award! Award winning Sculpture We've just one 1st prize in the nation B&Q Daffodil planter competiton. Our planter was choosen as the best in the country and as well as that we get £1000 worth of B&Q stuff, whatever we want! Well done to student Cam who designed the sculpted planter and to our friends at Eccleston George who helped us to make it. June 6th AONB WOODLAND PROJECT FINISHED Below are some pictures showing some of our hard work.   10th April 09  BBC Introducing The Wild Oats The Wild Oats The Wild Oats The Wild Oats have a scattering of musical influences but the six-piece are building quite a following on the Isle of Wight They crossed the Solent to visit BBC Introducing... South Live for a session and a chat. Over the past few years, the Isle of Wight six-piece have had a spontaneous approach - gigging their material without rehearsal and developing the songs as they went from venue to venue. The different styles and influences of the individual band members have all evolved into their unique blend of 'folk n roll' which they've showcased during a busy summer  of 2008 which included a headline slot in the Kashmir tent at the Isle of Wight Festival. Spike and Rich from The Wild Oats > The Wild Oats / Anarchy's Tongue > The Wild Oats / Where do you go? > The Wild Oats / A Wish Away > The Wild Oats / Paper Aeroplanes > Help playing audio/video However while Spike admits the perennial problem of the cost of crossing the Solent is a barrier to many bands' development, he thinks Islanders themselves sometimes don't realise the riches on their doorstep: "Sometimes on the Island it's taken for granted that there are so many original bands - elsewhere it's not as saturated as it is on the Isle of Wight.  I think there could be more venues on the Isle of Wight for original live music." The Wild Oats As well as working on their own material, the band have also helped raise £2,000 for St George's School in Newport - a centre for children with profound multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). Spike explained he was working at the school when he had the idea to produce a song with the kids: "While I was there I just got swept up with the kids and the mood of the school and the fantastic staff.  I just thought - 'why not try and do a song with the kids?'" The school's music room was transformed into a studio for the recording of the Making Sense song - the B-side to their single, Paper Tigers. "It's really good and caught the mood of the school -  it gets played at the school assembly each Friday  I couldn't believe how much they got into it." "Some of these kids can't stay in a classroom for a whole lesson but we had everyone learning the song, melody and even the chorus 'sung' in sign language - and they absolutely nailed it." After a short break the band are writing new material and will be working on an album as well as a New Year's Eve party gig planned for their growing numbers of fans on the Island. last updated: 02/12/2008 at 17:12 created: 02/12/2008  19th March 09   Our patron Chris Packham takes over Springwatch

We're really happy to announce that our patron Chris Packham will join the Springwatch presentation team in 2009. Chris Packham will join Kate Humble as co-presenter of BBC Two's popular natural history series Springwatch, the BBC has confirmed. Springwatch is back for three weeks from Monday, 25 May, 2009. Chris, a zoology graduate, has worked in television as a natural history broadcaster for more than 20 years. He started his career at the the BBC in 1985 working on popular children's series The Really Wild Show. Since then, he's carved out a successful career as both a wildlife photographer and a natural history broadcaster, being most recently seen in Nature's Calendar and Nature's Top 40 for BBC Two. "To be asked to be the new presenter of Springwatch and Autumnwatch was a dream come true. I hope to make a real contribution to the team," said Chris. The regular Springwatch team of Simon King, Kate Humble and Gordon Buchanan will all be back in May 2009. "Chris and I have worked together before and he really knows his wildlife, so I was delighted when I learned that he was to be my new co-presenter," said Kate.

 Here's Chris at Dragon discovering our dinosaur.

Friday 13th March 2009 

AONB WOODLAND PROJECT UPDATE 

Pussy willow on the outdoor classroom.

Life is returning to Dragon as Spring time starts to take hold.                 

New pathway in the woodland area.                  Turf home for wildlife.

We've been busy working in the woodland area of Dragon on a project funded by the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty organiation. We've been busy making homes for wildlife as well as putting in pathways so that wheelchairs can use the area too.

Dragon team at the Bardon Vectis quarry.

We've also been on some school trips to see some real Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, we went to Firestone Cops, Alverstone Mead and St George's Down. We went to the quarry on St George's Down to see where all our sand and building materials come from. We discoverd that Bardon Vectis dig up sand and ballast and stones out of the ground and put it in to giant size lorries, they can then sell the sand and stuff to builders and builders stores. Bardon Vectis sponsor Dragon by giving us materials from their quarry. We found out that after the holes are dug they fill them in and make the ground flat again and make it good for wildlife.

We would like to say a great big thank you to Steve Burton of Bardon Vectis for showing us around the quarry and for making it really really interesting and a lot of fun.

Wednesday 4th March 2009

 DRAGON BOARD MEETING DETAILS FOR MARCH

Tuesday 9th December

DECEMBER BOARD MEETING DETAILS

These things were discussed at this months meeting.

• Confirmation of AONB funding
• Dragon Tee shirts
• Goodleaf Tree Climbing to prepair a tree for climbing at the end of March
• Souther Water to visit and look at putting in a water main in to Dragon
• Sign maker Alan Rowe to make some signs and maps for Dragon
• A swing for wheelchair users in the woods
• Possible sponsorship and funding for a massive new zone

At the meeting were - Jock, Lisa, Philip, Andrew, Luke, Anthony, Spike Nigel & Ian.   

Wednesday 19th Nov 08

DRAGON PARTNERSHIP UP AND RUNNING

The Dragon Partnership is powering ahead and we've had our third partnership meeting now. The partners are made up of school pupils, teaching staff one freelance artist and two members of the arts organisation called Eccleston George. At this months meeting we talked about how our ANOB grant application is going and we agreed by majority vote to have Goodleaf Tree Climbing Company come to the Dagon Centre to prepair a tree for climbing with proper climbing ropes and harnesses. This month Steve Barton from Bardon Vectis sat in on the meeting and pledge help from the business he works for. Students Andrew & Anthony who head up the Estates Division of Dragon agreed to check over the existing zones during the winter months to see what needs repairing and renewing. We set a date for the next Dragon Partnership meeting for 9th December.

Student Chair is Luke : Student Treasurer is Philip : Student Estates Div is Andrew & Anthony : Student Partner is Katie.

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Tuesday 11th Nov 08

BARDON VECTIS JOIN DRAGON AS SPONSOR

We are really really pleased to announce today that a big Isle of Wight business has said that they would like to help us at Dragon. Steve Burton from Bardon Vectis came to our Dragon board meeting today and said that he will help however he can. This is fantastic news for us because they will be able to help us with landscaping projects and pathways

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Friday 19th Sept 08

Breathing Places at Roman Villa forges ahead 

 

Above - Students from St George's School get stuck in.

Work is well and truly underway at Brading Roman Villa's 'Breathing Places' project. The Eccleston George team have been working side by side with students on a variety of features for the newly named Medusa's Wildlife Meadow.

                

         Above- One of the standing stones at the entrance to the wildlife meadow.

                

    Above - One of the sculpted bug hotels and a sculpted seat with insect carvings.

Work will continue in the meadow over the next few weeks, so watch this space to see what happens next.

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Friday 12 Sept 08

Breathing Places project plan in action 

Above - The plan for Brading Roman Villa's Wildlife Meadow project.

Yesterday The Roman Villa had no plan..... today they do! After a visit from a crack team of students from DRAGON,  they now have a fantastic new design for the Brading Roman Villa's 'Breathing Places' project. Inspired by Medusa herself, the wildlife area will feature mown pathways, seating, bug hotels and interpretation points.

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Thursday 11 Sept 08

Roman Villa nature project begins

 Above - One of a great number of Wasp Spiders, this one was eating it's dinner.

Work started yesterday on the 'Breating Spaces' project at Brading Roman Villa. Pupils from St George's School helped to get things started. Together the Eccleston George arts team and Dragon team discovered the area they are developing is home to a thriving population of Wasp Spiders (Argiope bruennichi). Once rarely seen in the UK this beautiful orb web spider is now quite common in southern parts of the country.

Designs for the layout of the project were discussed with the pupils from St George's and are now in the process of being drawn up......once again watch this space for project updates.

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Island 2000 & St George's School

present

Dolly Mixtures

Sat 17 May - Sat 7 Jun

An eclectic mish-mash of art dolls created from an equally eclectic range of materials will be exhibited by a team of mainly Island-based artists in support of the St George’s School Dragon Project. Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to own these pieces of art as they will be raffled off to raise funds for the project.

                    

Raffle and Drinks Evening:

Thu 29 May 6 - 8pm   

Buy a £5 raffle ticket  and you could bag yourself a genuine Art Doll collecters item by any one of a number of well known artists which include Teresa Grimaldi and Kate Sutton. 

There are over thirty Art dolls on display and they're all potentially take home-able if you win!

All funds raised go to St George's Dragon project.....hurrah!