Story by Patrick Meleady:
The Grand Unveiling in honour of Ellie Stockwell’s Zebra and a great time was had by one and all.
St. Nicholas´ Day celebrations were a great success in Pitsmoor Adventure Playground.
St Nicholas Day is popular especially with children in Eastern Europe who are given presents of sweets and various small toys. According to this tradition they .clean their shoes, put them on the window sill in the evening and the next morning they find a lovely surprise in them. St Nicholas paid a visit to the Playground and bags of chocolate coins were distributed to the joy of the children.
Much loved Ellie was a regular attendee of the Playground. She sadly passed away with leukaemia. Her favourite animal was the zebra, and she loved best of all the zebra on the playground, which had fallen in disrepair.
The children and staff set to the task of restoring the zebra to its former glory in honour of Ellie
On the completion of its restoration on St Nicholas Day, great Pitsmoor born artist Joe Scarborough undertook the grand unveiling much to the delight of the 90 children and young people and their families present who came along. They came together to remember, honour and celebrate the life of Ellie and to engage with Joe, who told them about his life on Abbeyfield Road;.
Joe said:-
It’s great to see Pitsmoor cooking. There is still every flavour in the world here in Pitsmoor Adventure Playground and it is fabulous. The painting of the zebra by the children was a work of art and the children deserve to be commended highly for this and their good deed”.
Joe tested out the Zebra much to the children’s and families delight.
Patrick Meleady the Playground Manager said:-
“It was an immense honour and privilege to have Joe come to visit us and spend time with us. He gave a fantastic motivational speech to the children and young people and reinforced each ones value and worth and how they too, as Pitsmoor children can reach to the stars.”
The event encompassed Slovakian traditions in recognition of some of the Playground attendee’s cultural heritage and traditions relating to St Nicholas' day.
Pitsmoor Adventure Playground is held up nationally as being a beacon of community cohesion for other services to learn from and has been a place of welcome and inclusion for the Slovakian community, as the Playground gives due regard to diverse cultures while promoting British Values.
Rostislav Aged 11 stated:-
“It is great to meet Joe and it was very kind of him to come and see us all on the Playground and the St Nicholas' chocolate was lovely. We were really happy to see St Nicholas' Day celebrated here as they do in Slovakia.”
Saint Nicholas' Day
Saint Nicholas (or Svätý Mikuláš in Slovak) was a pilgrim and later a bishop and a saint. He was born in the year 270AD in the town of Myra, in the present-day Turkey. He became famous for his extended generosity, secret gift-giving and performing miracles for the poor and the unlucky.
As such, he became the patron of humanitarian brotherhoods, sailors, unmarried women, tradesmen, students and so on. He is also the patron saint of Russia and Greece.
Saint Nicholas Day celebrates the life of this philanthropist, who passed away on December 6th, 346AD. The customs associated to St. Nicholas´ Day (6th December) gradually developed into the form known nowadays.
