Wellington in Bloom is warning that this year – the group’s 30th anniversary – could be its last unless new volunteers step forward to continue the work.
Chairman Isabel Ward said, “We are very much in need of younger support to help our aging committee. Without more – and younger – volunteers 2014 could be our last year working for Wellington.”
“WiB is a group of 14 volunteers who are dedicated to protecting Wellington’s environment, encouraging business and advancing its economy by attracting visitors to this beautiful part of Somerset,” explained Isabel
“We have won awards, trophies and gold medals from South West in Bloom. Last year we entered 5 locations in the ‘Neighbourhood’ Class – Nynehead Court, Swains Lane Nature Reserve, the Basins Nature Reserve, Trinity Orchard and the Peace Garden. We showed the judge how these sites had been improved as wildlife reserves. In the case of Trinity Orchard a plot of waste land was reclaimed and planted with fruit trees. We maintained and replanted the Peace Garden at the Quaker Meeting House with bulbs and shrubs, providing a haven of peace and quiet. Last autumn we paid for repair and repainting of the wooden planters around the town which are now filled with spring bedding plants.”
“We encourage schools with their eco-projects and make sure graffiti and fly-posting do not disfigure our town. For all this work we receive support from our grateful Town Council.”
“It does mean spade work, pruning overhanging branches and clearing some paths of brambles. With more willing hands, hard work can be made light work.”
“If anyone would like to do something rewarding, make friends and work outdoors to help us to make our community the best in the west, then please join us for our Annual Meeting on Thursday 13th March in the Bulford Community Centre at 7.30pm when we shall review how well we did in 2013 and plan for 2014.”
The committee is to mark its 30th anniversary with an exhibition showcasing areas around the town which it has helped to enhance over the years. It will be on display at the United Reformed Church’s Flower Festival from 3rd to 5th July.
WiB is part of South West in Bloom, one of eighteen regional/national competitions that make up Britain in Bloom, the biggest horticultural campaign in Europe. The aim of the communities that take part each year is to improve and regenerate local environments through imaginative planting of trees, shrubs, flowers and landscaping, conservation and recycling projects and to sweep away the eyesores that blight streets, such as litter, graffiti and vandalism.
Please contact Isabel Ward for more information by email: mantlestreet@sky.com
Report: Gill Paltridge
The planting of fruit trees on the Trinity Orchard site was done by Transition Town Wellington not by Wellington in Bloom. What WIB did was enter the site in the neighbourhood competition.