Thursday 27 November 2008

In Bloom 2009


Iris


Well first let me say that the picture above has nothing to do with what I am writing about, I just found it on my hard drive and thought it would brighten up the page.

Last night I attended the first planning meeting of the Village in Bloom organising committee. For those of you who don't know about 'In Bloom', it is a national competition between villages and towns to improve our environment. This does not just mean who has the best hanging baskets or ornamental tubs but the whole environment. It includes conservation activities, anti litter campaigns, community activities and anything else that improves the area in which we live. The villages and towns that take part are judged by an independent team and medals are awarded. Last year the village achieved a Silver medal which ideally we would like to improve on but the important thing is taking part and getting more people involved.

I have agreed to help project manage the planting and redesigning an area of grass and flowerbeds at the entrance to the village. The existing beds are a little tired and also block the view of traffic coming into the village. It is quite a large space and will be quite a lot of work but well worth doing. We also agreed to do several wildlife projects which we hope to get the village kids involved in which should be fun.

I have also been asked to document the work we do as we have to produce a portfolio for the judges, so I will also share some of the photos we you over the next few months.



10 comments:

  1. Good luck with it; trying to get others organised and overcome apathy can be such a mammoth task.

    I wish we had something here similar; we have such great assets, a fabulous oak common planted for Trafalgar, a huge community orchard planted for the Millennium, lots of beautiful cottages and houses, and even one of the best gardens in the country (West Green) all inside the parish boundaries. It gets so political though, and that puts me off totally.

    I'll be interested to see you progress, maybe I can learn from you how to avoid the pitfalls, and then maybe start to organise something similar here!

    Look forward to the photos.

    Zoë

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  2. Thanks Zoe, I know what you mean about apathy. We are a very small village (pop aprox 380) which you can split into 3 distinct groups, the doers, the let see what they have done and the who are you do you live here? You can guess which is the smallest group!

    Gary

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  3. Isn't it just the perfect flower? I love them. Good luck with the planning meeting./ Tyra on a grey an warm..ish November day +8C today.

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  4. Thanks Tyra, I love them as well. That one was from my old garden, sadly I forgot to bring any with me and I don't have any as drk here ...yet!

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  5. Hi Gary - good luck with that project. Every year I wonder about getting involved with my town's blooms project but I suspect it is abit clicky so I have avoided it. Also there seems to be a distinct lack of info about the project team and when they meet. Looking forward to seeing your progress

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  6. Aw, the advantages of living in a small country so such activities can be imagined and then carried out! How fortunate! Please do document your start to finish.I'm sure such sharing will inspire others to get involved in their own communities, where possible. Good luck!

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  7. funny because the first thing i thought when i opened your page was - did he take this photo? =) then u go on saying that it has nothing to do with ur blog LOL

    anyway, i saw you in one of the blogs i visited and thought of inviting you to my site. hope you can spend a portion of your blogging time to check it out and share you thoughts. would really appreciate it if you can.

    http://shewritesyouwrite.blogspot.com/

    thanks!

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  8. Hi Melli, I did take it, i was part of a floral studio set I for a photographic show a few years back. It was taken on a medium format transparency which causes all sorts of problems when it comes to scanning!

    Just had a look at your site, it looks very good so I have added it to my list, hope you can do the same.

    Gary

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  10. Hi Gary
    Seems you have made the international press http://features.csmonitor.com/gardening/2008/11/28/garden-siteseeing-in-egypt-new-zealand-south-africa-and-england/
    So glad the Christian Science Monitor has introduced you blog to me
    Kind regards and may your blog prosper

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