FAMILIES and staff past and present gathered at a Fishponds pre-school to remember its inspirational manager.<\/p>\n
Around 100 children and adults attended a memorial event in July for Liz Tomlinson at Sticky Fish Pre-School, based at Fishponds Baptist Church in Downend Road.<\/p>\n
Liz, a mother of four and grandmother from Stapleton, died suddenly from a brain aneurysm in April, aged 57.<\/p>\n
She had worked at the pre-school for around 20 years, including more than ten as manager.<\/p>\n
To honour her memory staff held an open event for past and present families, and others involved in Sticky Fish over the years.<\/p>\n
Acting manger Jo Ball, who was Liz\u2019s deputy, said: \u201cFor so many families in and around Fishponds, Liz Tomlinson was more than a preschool manager. She was a guiding hand, a listening ear, friend and a joyful soul, who helped shape young lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer recent passing has left a profound sense of loss throughout our Sticky Fish community.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiz was such a kind and caring person. She was an amazing wife, a mother of four, a grandmother, a sister and aunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs manager of Sticky Fish, Liz has been such an influential person in both our professional and personal lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had a way of talking with you that made you instantly at ease with her. She didn\u2019t just listen, she heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cProviding a caring, loving and nurturing start for children was at the very centre of how she worked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer dedication to early childhood education, and especially to the rich learning potentials of being outside, was behind all her decisions as manager.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liz masterminded the transformation of a patch of overgrown ground next to the pre-school\u2019s outdoor play area to create the Wild Garden, a place where children could learn about the natural world.<\/p>\n
Working with staff, parent volunteers, Avon Wildlife Trust, Grow Wilder and the East Bristol Carpentry Collective, the garden was Liz\u2019s \u201cpride and joy\u201d, said Jo.<\/p>\n
Its benefits to children in learning about the natural world and taking part other outdoor activities were highlighted in the pre-school\u2019s most recent Ofsted report in 2023.<\/p>\n
Liz also arranged outdoor activities for staff on INSET days.<\/p>\n
The pre-school has bought a bench for the garden and an acer tree to create some shade near its small pond, along with a sign naming it the Spring Mother\u2019s Garden.<\/p>\n
Jo said the sign had been made in consultation with Liz\u2019s family, inspired by a eulogy from one of her daughters, who had described Liz as her \u201cSpringtime Mother\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cLiz will be forever missed but never forgotten by both her family and all her Sticky Fish community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FAMILIES and staff past and present gathered at a Fishponds pre-school to remember its inspirational manager. Around 100…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,393,12716,4884,112215,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-305115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-fishponds","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-sticky-fish","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114944724434813693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}