Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Update – 24 July 2009: this press release has been amended to reflect a change to the venue for the event on Saturday 1 August.

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Jelly, the green-fingered puppet star, and special reporter for CBeebies' Green Balloon Club, is attending special nature events around the UK this summer, helping children to learn more about their local wildlife.

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Learning's Breathing Places campaign, in partnership with CBeebies, is calling on youngsters this summer to go outside, and 'do one thing' for nature during their school holidays.

In a week of themed events and planned activities from 25 July to 2Β August young children, and their parents and carers, will be given inspiration to do something for nature, for example, through storytelling activities; baking for birds; creating a log pile; creating a bug hotel or planting seeds.

The CBeebies wildlife show, Green Balloon Club, takes children on a weekly nature adventure and introduces three to six year olds, and their families, to a range of environmental, conservation and wildlife-related issues.

The Green Balloon Club is presented by Lily-Rose who loves flowers; Ant who looks at insects; Cat who focuses on animals and Jay who is interested in birds.

They are accompanied on their adventures by balloonist Sky who watches over them and joins in their adventures.

Each week, the Green Balloon Club meets in their clubhouse, made from recycled materials, the cycle-powered balloon inflates and they fly off to find other children who are club members and are waiting to tell everyone what is happening in their patch.

They also receive regular special reports from Jelly who is out and about meeting children who are involved with nature, and the Ground Crew, assisted by wildlife expert, Nature Chris (when he's not flying the balloon), who are involved in wildlife missions.

To find out what is happening in your area during Green Balloon Club Week, go to bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces where you will also find details of free activity sheets as well as Green Star certificates which will be available to download in the lead up to the week of events.

And, set to inspire youngsters further, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ newsreader Huw Edwards will be reading Nature Tales on a CD available to download free as audio or illustrated text from the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Breathing Places website.

Nature Tales will include the specially commissioned A Toad Abode, A Seagull Surprise, Hibernating Hoglets, Lazarus The Ladybird and Bernie The Busy Bee and all feature members of The Green Balloon Club.

All the Nature Tales stories in the series can be collected from today, Wednesday 22 July 2009.

Dates and venues where Jelly will be appearing

• RSPB Pulborough Nature Reserve, West Sussex, Sunday 26 July, 10.30am-1.00pm
• Poors Field, Reservoir Road, Ruislip, London, Tuesday 28 July, 11.30am-1.30pm
• Lough Neagh Discovery Centre, Oxford Island, Lugan, Northern Ireland, Wednesday 29 July, 11.00am-2.00pm
• Derby Museum & Art Gallery, Derby, Thursday 30 July, 11.00am-2.00pm
• Tullie House Museum, Heathlands Farm, Carlisle, Friday 31 July, 11.00am-3.00pm
• Dick Institute, Elmbank Avenue, Kilmarnock, Saturday 1 August, 1.00-3.00pm
• Philips Park (Near velodrome), Manchester, Sunday 2 August, 1.00-4.00pm

Please note that events taking place during Green Balloon Club Week are staffed by volunteers and are not Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ-run events.

All events are organised by a range of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Breathing Places partners.

Notes to Editors

About Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Learning

The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is committed to education and personal development. Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔΒ Breathing Places is one of the many unique and varied offerings from Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Learning. For more information on all the learning programmes offered for adults, teachers, parents and students, visit bbc.co.uk/learning.

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Learning also delivers campaigns that aim to inspire and empower individuals to take action – action that changes their lives, benefits communities and helps to transform society.

About Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Breathing Places

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Breathing Places is a five-year campaign to encourage all of us to get outside and make space for nature. Developed in partnership with a huge range of wildlife and conservation organisations, the campaign encourages new audiences to get involved in doing one thing for nature, while providing opportunities for Breathing Places to be created across the UK. Already millions of people have been inspired to do one thing for nature.

Β£9.5million from the Big Lottery Fund has been invested in creating new breathing places. More than 10,000 schools have signed up to BP School, and nearly 10,000 breathing places are registered on the Event Finder.

Details on how to do one thing for nature where you live, from putting up a bird feeder to creating a breathing place, are on bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces. The public can also search around 10,000 breathing places on the Breathing Places Event Finder to locate nature-friendly places and events near them.

A breathing place is great for both wildlife and people. It has an active community of people creating, enjoying and maintaining it.

About CBeebies

CBeebies remains the most-watched and loved channel for the under-sixes, with almost half of the target audience tuning in each week (parents and carers with children aged 0-3 and 4-6 year olds in digital homes) it reaches well over double (almost three times) the audience of its pre-school competitors.

The CBeebies website regularly reaches almost a million weekly users and reached more than one million unique users in the UK during the first week of February 2009, a record for the site.

To access the Green Balloon Club online go to bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/ecobeebies.

A series of Green Balloon Club holiday specials are due to be broadcast for five weeks from Friday 31 July on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Two at 7.30am.

SS