Lilydale’s Christmas decorations have had a refresh this year, with the expert help of students at Lilydale Heights College (LHC) and some donations from Bunnings.
The Lilydale Township Action Group (LTAG) decorates Main Street every year with handmade Christmas trees, candles, Santas and wreaths.
Wanting to update and refresh some of these decorations, Ian Darvell said after speaking with Lilydale Bunnings community immersion activities organiser Thomas Hobley, the suggestion of engaging the students in LCH’s Hands On Learning program seemed like the perfect fit.
Ian, alongside Max Manning, spent the day with the group of students on Thursday 16 October, sharing a cooked breakfast to begin, before getting on the tools to drill, cut and paint the Christmas trees.
Hands On Learning teacher Erin said the program provides students who may need to reengage in school or find a traditional classroom setting challenging, with a day a week doing physical activities from woodworking to gardening and craft.
“Not all kids are made for the classroom,” she said.
With students ranging in age from Year 7 to Year 10, the program also allows for cross-year level social interaction and learning to work together and problem solve.
A large part of the program is also giving back to the community, whether that be the school itself or organisations outside of it.
Ian said all of the timber was recycled and rescued from a kindergarten fence that was replaced, and the paint and screws were donated by Bunnings.
Lining up the fence palings, Ian instructed the students on how to make the assembly efficient and easy, cutting three trees from the timber.
With the guidance of the head of Hands On Learning, Daithi, and Ian and Max, the students used power tools to drill and cut the trees, but also learnt methods of measuring and using hand tools.
“It’s good to see them using all their different skills too. Cutting those bits off, you could do that easily with a power saw, but using hand saws gives you that different handling ability,” Ian said.
Erin said that for many of the students, they will eventually go into a trade and learning those skills early gives them an advantage before undertaking an apprenticeship.
But not only that, the intergenerational benefits of engaging with and learning from Max and Ian, Erin said, were highly important for these young people.
“Even to just have a chat. I think they sometimes get a bit intimidated by older people, so it gives them a chance to mingle with us,” Ian said.
Getting young people involved in this township project, Ian said, was a wonderful outcome as members start getting older, and hopefully, as they drive down Main Street, the students can see their handiwork.
The trees that are being replaced this year in Lilydale won’t go to waste either, with the Mount Evelyn Township Group interested in doing something similar this festive season.
“A lot of the older trees we’ve got, we’re going to revamp as well. Mount Evelyn wants to start a program of Christmas decorations on the main street, so they’re going to grab a lot of the stuff we’ve got and revamp it. Hopefully, everyone will enjoy the process. It’s good fun,” Ian said.
