Community

We support the following charity

Hospice in the Weald

Hospice in the Weald
Maidstone Road
Pembury
Tunbridge Wells
Kent TN2 4TA

Telephone: 01892 820500
Fax: 01892 820520
Email: enquiries [at] hospiceintheweald [dot] org [dot] uk

Registered Charity No.280276
A Company limited by guarantee in England No. 1499846

Stonell in the Community

"Stonell Goes Back to School"

Stonell, a national natural stone flooring company, went back to school this month, namely Paddock Wood Primary School near it's Kent warehouse and showroom. They were invited in to do a talk on stone and rocks by Year 3 Primary School Teacher Elaine Hall.

Liz May and Anna Vidler, the Kent Showroom Manager, spent the morning with more than 90 school children aged seven and eight, showing them photographs about how each type of stone is formed, quarried, cut into tiles and how it is used in buildings.

We showed them a video of how slate is split by hand and how limestone is extracted. In order to explain Sedimentary Rocks we showed them a bottle of Apple Juice which had sediment at the bottom. Part of the session included a quiz were each child was given two samples of stone and had to guess the stone type from a choice of sandstone, granite, basalt, marble, travertine and limestone by placing it on the appropriate table.

Liz said: "I also present a RIBA approved CPD seminar on natural stone flooring and it struck me as very impressive that many of these young children knew as much about stone as some of the architect's practices I visit."

Liz said: "It was an absolute pleasure to be able to encourage these youngsters to learn about natural stone. To our amazement, the children listened intently and this was demonstrated by some the questions they asked at the end which were surprisingly challenging".

Stonell received over 30 thank you letters from the pupils, many featuring pictures of volcanoes and seascapes. One of the school children wrote to Liz afterwards saying: "I did not know that the moon is made of rocks…because I do not know much about the moon. I am now very interested in rocks and stones."  Stonell also donated over 180 stone samples to the school for their continuing project work on natural stone as part of the company's involvement in the local community. For Architect's Practices willing to take up the challenge and book a CPD lunchtime seminar on Natural Stone Flooring, please email liz [dot] may [at] stonell [dot] com