| Sherborne In Bloom! |
| Sherborne’s ‘In Bloom’ Blog |
Like the rest of the country, Sherborne has had its share of snow these past weeks.
Snow changes the landscape and we even see everyday landmarks like trees in a different light.
But it’s the children who make the most of it:
With the snow has come freezing temperatures, chill winds and ice. Let’s look forward to the snowdrops – they can’t be far behind!
In the South West In Bloom Presentation Event at the Westland Leisure Complex in Yeovil, Sherborne was awarded the highest prize in its class: a Gold award and the Preece Cup.
In what was termed the largest ‘In Bloom’ event ever to be held in the country, 450 delegates from around the South West region gathered together to see who had been awarded what in the 2009 regional contest.
Pictured here are the Sherborne contingent who attended the awards ceremony, holding the certificates and cup that we took away. On the right is Barry Cruse, one of the two judges who marked us in the competition.
The Preece Cup is a major award for the town in a very competitive category.
Caz Rowland
Caz Rowland, the lead co-ordinator for Sherborne In Bloom, was delighted with the town’s achievement: ‘So many people have worked so hard for our entry this year and I am delighted that their efforts have been so richly rewarded.
A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who took part – we can be rightly proud of our town and its hard-working and gifted gardeners! Now that we know that Sherborne is up there with the winners in the region, our task for 2010 is to stay there…’
Preece Cup
Sherborne’s success came in the year that the judging criteria were changed to include more emphasis on environmental responsibility.
In their appraisal of the town’s entry, the judges mentioned our impressive heritage, our recycling and environmental credentials, the excellent wildlife areas and the contribution made by so many individuals and groups within the community.
In these difficult times it is great to have some good news to share.
If you have occasion to visit Sherborne’s Police Station you cannot fail to be impressed by the sunflowers now on display.
Mandy James, the Desk Sergeant, tells us that the Police Station has now become a tourist attraction with coaches slowing down to see it as they drive down Digby Road. And last week a coach stopped and disgorged 24 old ladies who all got out and took photographs.
Who would have thought that Sherborne nick could get famous for all the right reasons?
It’s not only worms to be found in compost bins: this one in a back garden in St Catherine’s Crescent had been occupied by a swarm of honey bees!
The bees had taken up residence and were already in the business of furnishing their new home with wax honeycomb:
A team of volunteer beekeepers arrived to repatriate them to a more amenable environment:
The bees were gently moved out of the hive using a dustpan and brush (traditional beekeeping equipment!)…
… and into a straw skep ready for transporting to their new home:
Two of the beekeepers in the picture were beginners and this was their first experience of collecting a swarm. After this unusual initiation into the craft of beekeeping the pair took the bees away in the skep and introduced them into a nice comfortable beehive sited on their nearby farm.
Happy endings all round!
Pictures by Gillian Gunner.
More allotments needed? Not enough land available?
Now here’s a good idea! Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (of River Cottage fame) is launching this initiative called ‘Landshare’ which puts people who want to cultivate land in touch with those who have land available. He’s doing this via Channel 4 TV which broadcasts his cookery/country lifestyle programme.
Hugh’s idea is simple. There are more and more people who want to grow their own food, but there are long waiting lists for allotments. So, find more land. People who have gardens that they would like to share or landowners with unused land could satisfy the demand by making their land available.
The TV programme has featured several examples of how this can work. In one case, a woman whose garden was too big for her to manage allowed another woman to come in and work it in exchange for a share of the vegetable crop. And there are other examples of people ‘guerilla gardening’, planting vegetables in untended public spaces.
Find out more about this excellent idea at http://landshare.channel4.com/
At the ‘South West In Bloom’ presentation event in Plymouth yesterday, Sherborne came away with another gold award for our Sherborne In Bloom project!
We also won the Clem Preece Memorial Cup which was awarded to Gryphon School ‘for outstanding school effort supporting Britain In Bloom criteria’.
And we won the Michael McGahey Trophy ‘for exceptional community effort’.
We were also awarded a certificate in the Neighbourhood Awards category for the planting scheme at Fosters Furlong.
Pictured here (l to r) are Sally Westlotorn, Louise Burks, Caz Rowland and Valerie Todd who attended the event, holding the awards that Sherborne won.
Thanks and congratulations to all the hard-working gardeners of Sherborne and especially to the pupils and teachers of Gryphon School whose contribution received such deserved recognition! Thanks also to the Sherborne Bradford Abbas Camera Club who photographed the entire project.
Now, let’s get started on 2009
Encouraging young people to take part in some of the Sherborne in Bloom projects is something we are actively supporting.
Each year more young people want to take part, displaying interest not only in horticulture but also in making their town look good.
This year Gryphon School pupils Yr 9s aged 13-14 years and mentoring Yr 12s – aged 16-17 years painted a mural in the Old Market Car Park entitled ‘Communication over Time’. This certainly brightens up the town, even in the rain!
Thanks, kids!
Sherborne In Bloom isn’t just about wonderful floral displays, it’s also about creating a sustainable environment in the town and helping to preserve wildlife.
One initiative that is now starting to showing results is the creation of a bee and insect garden on a wasteland verge at the far end of Sherborne Station car park.
The plot was entirely overgrown and neglected when the Sherborne Beekeepers Association decided to adopt it and turn it into a bee-friendly garden.
During July, members clubbed together and cleared the plot of the accumulated overgrowth and litter which was all there was to see. With the help of a generous load of compost donated by Viridor Waste Management, some topsoil donated by Sherborne Turf, and machinery loaned and operated by Lillington Plant, the plot was cleared and levelled ready for planting.
The beekeepers decided that they didn’t want to plan or design a formal garden, rather they wanted to establish a range of bee-friendly plants and, with the help of Mother Nature (and the insects themselves), encourage the plants to take over the plot.
The first step in this plan is to establish some ground cover. Bees don’t like grass but they do like clover and this has now been planted with wild white clover seeds donated by Pearce Seeds. This is growing well, helped by the generous amount of rain we’ve had in August!
When the clover has grown a little more, further planting will take place. Bees love plants such as borage, foxglove, verbena, honeysuckle, rosebay willow herb, purple toadflax (to name but a few) – all of which will be encouraged to spread and encroach on to the wasteland adjoining the railway track.
Bees are an essential link in the horticultural chain and, in recent years, have been subject to a number of stresses caused by disease, environmental pollution and bad weather. The bee garden at the end of Sherborne Station car park is intended to help redress the balance and to covert an overgrown eyesore into a productive haven for bees and insects of all kinds.
Sherborne In Bloom Shopping Bags
As part of the town’s effort to become a plastic bag-free zone, Sherborne In Bloom is sponsoring its own shopping bags.
These are eco-friendly, biodegradable jute bags and are big enough to carry all your shopping.
Jute is environmentally friendly and when discarded will decompose leaving only valuable nutrients.
Made in India under strict working conditions and transported to this country by ship to avoid air pollution, Jute bags are totally biodegradable using only natural materials and traditional skills to combat a distinctly modern, world pollution problem. Jute bags are extremely durable – one Jute bag will last longer than many thousands of plastic bags and unlike its plastic counterpart, when finally discarded a Jute bag will naturally decompose.
The bags are now available in shops around the town and all proceeds from the bags go to Sherborne In Bloom.
You can get your ‘Sherborne In Bloom’ shopping bag at one of these outlets:
Tourist Information Centre, Digby Road
Sherborne Town Council – Manor House, Newland
Mid West Office Supplies, Cheap Street
Parsons Butchers, Cheap Street
Per Te, Swan Yard
Castle Furnishings, Cheap St
Verbena, Digby Road
Gryphon School (Lizzie Kingsbury)
Please support Sherborne In Bloom by buying a shopping bag when you see one in the town.
Or why not buy two and give one to a friend?
Let’s all say ‘NO’ to plastic bags!
We are looking for someone to organise the hanging baskets for this year’s Sherborne in Bloom. What would be required is for that person to liaise with businesses and check who wants baskets and collect money. A small task but represents a huge part of our growing success with the Britain in Bloom Competition
Do you know of anyone who might be interested?
Contact Caz c.rowland@sherborne-tc.gov.uk