Millennium Eco Centre - sits at the entrance to a working sand and gravel quarry owned and operated by Tarmac Quarry Products Ltd.
The project was established in 1998 as an environmental education facility working with special needs students from St. Christopher’s School.
Brief History of the Millennium Eco Centre Project — it was set up with 10,000 pounds of Millennium Funding; four senior pupils from St. Christopher’s School ‘Environmental Task Force’ began searching for a suitable site for such a venture. Through already established business links with Tarmac Quarry Products Ltd. a disused building at Borras quarry was offered for the group to use. The centre was opened by the Mayor of Wrexham in September of that year.
The Centre was not open to the general public until 2000; during the ‘Minerals’ open event in the summer of that year, over 10,000 visitors passed through that event, learning about aggregate extraction and sustainable living/ sustainable lifestyles.
Nowadays the Millennium Eco Centre regularly receives over 12,000 visitors per year; these visitors, volunteers, students and supported people take part in a variety of activities and workshops based around sustainable living/sustainable lifestyles.
These people come from all over Wrexham and the surrounding counties; we have had visitors from Bulgaria, Demark, Holland and as far away as South Africa.
Whilst the Centre expands and grows as a community resource for ‘Education for Sustainable Development’; it still remains true to its initial roots and functions as a business enterprise set up by St. Christopher's School in Wrexham. The School holds the charity status and the Eco Centre is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government through the Aggregates Levy Sustainable fund for Wales.
Adult learner Provision- During 2000, the LEA approached Maxine Pittaway (Head Teacher – St. Christopher’s School) and the Eco Centre to take over the facilitation and running of a scheme that provided placements for adults with disabilities.
We now employ two full-time adult learning support staff working on the project—one based at School and one at our Millennium Eco Centre.
Mr. Graham Edwards (LEA Special Needs Advisor) and St. Christopher’s facilitate this provision. The client group of adults with disabilities who attend either the School or the Eco Centre are usually referred through Wrexham Social Services.
Requesting a placement—the adult client’s representative (usually the social worker) contacts the Centre Manager to request placements. An initial meeting is then arranged to talk over availability, and client & project preferences.
Who is eligible? - Clients attend with support. Only in exceptional circumstances, clients can attend with a care package arranged using limited support.
Places are offered to clients who we, at St. Christopher’s school and its Eco Centre think will benefit from their time spent with us. Care is taken to ensure that there are a correct number of clients at the Centre or School at any one time as space as at a premium.
