Project manager Liz Lawrence

Transcription

1 Portfolio 2017

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3 Stonehouse in Bloom Committee 2017: Chair Gary Powell Vice-Chair Becky Amor Secretary Sheila Brown Committee members: Mattie Ross Denise Gasan Rowena Wilks Lin Powell Chris Gallagher Austen Perkins Treasurer Deborah Curtis Project manager Liz Lawrence Jennifa Lowe Pam Swain Paula Nathan Jean Wilson Claire Sheridan Margaret Foxcroft Sponsors of Stonehouse in Bloom 2017 Stonehouse in Bloom 2017 would not have been possible without the financial and voluntary help of the following businesses, organisations and individuals: Stonehouse Town Council Wycliffe College Sarah Jane Kitchens Timbmet Sartorious John Kerry & Sons VW & Audi Garage Independent Financial Planning Bowbridge Veterinary Group J Broomhall Eurolink Communications Barn Nurseries Naylor Powell Estate Agents The Barber s Shop Organisations involved 1st Stonehouse Guides 1st Stonehouse Cubs 4th Stonehouse Brownies Stonehouse Community Partnership Stonehouse Gardening Club Park Infant School Kellaway Building Supplies Highfield Garden World Wyevale Garden Centres Norville Opticians Tax Assist Accountants The Light Great Western Railway LS Beautique Nail & Beauty Salon Bailey Opticians Sweet Delights Stonehouse Lunch Club Maidenhill School APT Stonehouse Park Junior School The Shrubberies School Special thanks to Ray Kay and Barry Cruse from the Town Council who have gone above and beyond to ensure the displays are well watered and looking their best. Thanks also to all the businesses in the High Street who have put together their own beautiful displays to enhance the town. And finally and huge thank you to the Stonehouse Station volunteer waterers: Denise Stoner, Sarah & Tim Jackson, Rachel Armstrong, Liz Hillary and Pam Swain; and also to A-level graphic design student, Daisy Jackson, for her fantastic posters.

4 The Rest Garden Work is on-going in the Rest Garden and the new plants in the Town Green Beds have made a good start Town Green Beds

5 Introduction to Stonehouse in Bloom 2017 The Stonehouse in Bloom team has settled into a strongly committed core group of 17 members assisted in larger numbers by members of the community from local businesses, schools, community groups, churches and Stonehouse Town Council. Each year, Stonehouse in Bloom has gathered momentum and this year has been no exception. A focal point for 2017 has been the Bloomers Café, which we have been running since February to raise funds. This has been a fantastic contact point for interested members of the public to meet with us and we have received generous and consistent support from our regular customers, many of whom have popped in every week for a cuppa and a piece of homemade cake. Alongside these we have run table top sales in the Town Hall, and we have a core group of sellers who come every week. We also been holding car boot sales and had a garden party & plant sale on a very wet afternoon! Being more visible in the community on a weekly basis has led to people donating items for us to sell in the café with proceeds going to SIB and another benefit has been offers to extend our floral displays thanks to keen gardeners wanting to get involved a case in point being the hay rack planters on the bus stop at the end of Pearcroft Road. Work has continued in the Rest Garden with the planting of more bulbs and the trees have been pruned to let in more light. We have made more progress clearing and planting up the Monument Garden with a mixture of shrubs, perennials, annuals and veg, which we hope people will help themselves to. The long bed along the wall is becoming established now and we have also increased the planting along the opposite side of the garden. 1st Stonehouse Cubs have made a bug hotel, which is now in place in the Rest Garden and on the Memorial Green, we have replaced the annual bedding with a wide variety of herbaceous perennials; many of these we have sourced from our own gardens. The peonies were acquired in response to a free to a good home advert in the paper although they did need digging up! Others were donated by Wyevale Garden Centre, Gloucester. We have been joined this year by Stonehouse Gardening Club and they have started to create a Winter Wild Life Garden on the bank outside Stonehouse Station. The shrubs are all in place and were donated by Highfield Garden World. The emphasis is on bumblebee & butterfly-friendly plants that will support these vital pollinators all-year round. More plants are set to go in in the autumn, sourced from a local nursery. We were offered some old filing cabinets, which we have made into planters and placed in the High Street. We have used compost made by the Town Council groundsmen in all the planters and also to improve the soil in the Rest Garden, Memorial Green beds and in the Station Steps garden, where a local resident donated a significant number of her garden plants to enable planting in this area to be extended considerably. Two local businesses are watering two of the new planters and 4th Stonehouse Brownies have planted up the third one outside the High Street Medical Centre.

6 Station Master s Garden This picture of the Gloucester to Chalford Shuttle, above, was painted by local resident Joe Gallagher. The train ran through Stonehouse daily until the route was cut in The train pictured left is the Flying Scotsman. Stonehouse Gardening Club

7 Work has been ongoing this year with regular: Community litter picks Weeding and tidying working parties Winter planting in the High Street, Rest Garden & Station Steps, Horse Trough, WI Planter, Stonehouse Lunch Club beds Hedge planting and tree planting in Meadow Road Park Clearing and tidying the orchard by Stonehouse Youth Centre Cotswold Wardens clearing viewpoints in Doverow Wood ready for the installation of four new benches. Improvements to the town s infrastructure include: New bus shelters New litter bins in Meadow Road Park and in Queen s Road at the entrance to Stonehouse Station New memorial bench in the Rest Garden donated by a local family Environmental improvements include: The bug hotel in the Rest Garden Water butt collecting rain off the roof of the London-bound platform waiting room Getting the word out about Stonehouse in Bloom The Stonehouse in Bloom Gold Rush campaign in Stonehouse News Regular coverage in Stroud Life and the Stroud News & Journal both online and in print. See links to online stories: ers_scoop_up_deals_at_weekly_table_top_sale_in_stonehouse_town_h all/ es_to_raise_money_for_stonehouse_in_bloom/?ref=erec eader_s_letter Walk_is_brightened_by_spring_bulbs_in_horse_trough_ display/ n_bloom_team_kickstart Gold_Rush campaign_with_weekly_craft_a nd_bake_sales/ n_bloom_team_aim_for_gold_rush_in_this_year s_competition/ Place on the phone with no home slot on BBC Radio Gloucestershire. Mark Cummings spoke to Deborah Curtis about Stonehouse in Bloom :49:00 Stonehouse History Group put together two displays for Gloucestershire Local History Association's Local History Day on Saturday 18th March. They featured Stonehouse in Bloom and the Trees in the High Street. Regular updates on our Facebook Page

8 Churches, Parks & Open Spaces St Cyr s Churchyard and the adjacent Stroudwater Canal are a haven for wildlife and a green space that is enjoyed by everyone In the winter, 6 trees were planted in Meadow Road Park and the children from Hopelands School helped plant a mixed species hedge A resident of Cotswold Green has reclaimed a section of the central field to create a sweeping green space while leaving wild areas for wildlife conservation. The frontage of St Joseph s RC Church has been colourfully planted

9 Stonehouse in Bloom Review of the Year 2016/2017 September 2016 Attended the RHS Heart of England in Bloom results/awards event and were presented with a Silver Gilt for Stonehouse in Bloom Achievement was featured in Stroud Life and the Stroud News & Journal. Committee, volunteers and local dignitaries gathered for a press photographer for pictures in front of the Town Hall. Held the penultimate community litter pick for 2016 October 2016 Held our Stonehouse in Bloom debriefing meeting when we went through the judges comments and worked out how we could incorporate all their suggestions into our 2017 entry. These plans included: Replacing the seasonal bedding plants on the Memorial Green with a sustainable planting scheme of bulbs and perennials Growing and propagating more of our own plants to use in public floral displays and seeking donated plants from SIB supporters Increasing sustainability by making and using some of our own compost and installing a water butt to collect water from the roof of the shelter on platform 1 on Stonehouse station Ensuring that everywhere we show the judges was completely weed and litter-free Don t include everything on the judges tour. Make more use of the portfolio and presentation to show what we are doing Show that we are working year-round on planting schemes in the town Tidied up the plants in the long beds in the Rest Garden. Left seed heads etc for the birds and to protect new growth. Planted bulbs in the raised bed in the rest garden. Moved the picnic table and installed a new memorial bench. November 2016 Final community litter pick for 2016 Planted up the rusty planters in the High Street and the Co-op beds with pansies and perennial plants such as trailing ivy and sedum. Planted daffodil bulbs and tulip bulbs in the Memorial Green beds With the help of Hopelands Preparatory School in Stonehouse and organised by the Town Mayor, we helped a group of volunteers to plant six new trees (two each of Malus Rudolph, Prunus avium Plena and Crataegus Prunifolia Splendens ) plus a new mixed hedge.

10 December 2016 We took a month off January 2017 We welcomed Mark Wiltshire to talk to us about our SIB 2016 entry. He went through the notes he made on the day and advised us on how we can improve in future. It was a very helpful meeting and we have endeavoured to put all his suggestions in place. Started to plan the new Memorial Green beds and identified plants from our own gardens that we could split and incorporate in the new scheme Stonehouse Gardening Club dug a new bed by Stonehouse Station and they have designed and are planting the border with insect-friendly plants with a long flowering season. A selection of perennials will go in in the autumn. Ray Kay, from Stonehouse Town Council, ground staff dug out all the tree roots and dug in home-made compost to improve the soil in the Station Master s Garden. Cotswold Voluntary Wardens came with chainsaws to help clear viewing areas in Doverow Wood, pictured right. We have four benches ready to be installed for use by the public. February 2017 We held our Annual General Meeting and elected our officers for We sent out all the requests for sponsorship letters and we continue to be supported financially by a core group of generous local businesses. Launched our own Stonehouse in Bloom fundraising campaign at the end of February. This has comprised: Table top sales, weekly in the Town Hall Bloomers Café, weekly in the Old Post Office building (We are grateful to Stonehouse Town Council for the use of the premises for both of these events) Car boot sales on the first Saturday of the month from June to October Garden Party and Plant Sale on May Bank Holiday The owners of The Light shop in the High Street had a collection box by their till to raise money for SIB A number of private donations, many of which have been dropped into Bloomers Café, which has proved a valuable focal point for SIB. March 2017 We were invited by Wyevale Garden Centre Gloucester to go and choose plants that they then donated for our sustainable planting scheme in the