Bloomin’ Marvellous
Preparation Work
A nursery was needed to plant and house the hanging baskets and tubs prior to distribution to resident’s houses and, after consultation, we developed a community nursery on a temporary site for the duration of the initial campaign. We found the nursery a home on Blackhills Road over the short term with the help of a local businessman. It then needed to be relocated to another site after the event to be ran as a community enterprise, providing employment and new opportunities for local people.
One major set back we experienced was relocating the community nursery and finding suitable available land. Through sheer determination and not giving up hope 2006 began on a much more promising note when the District Council allowed us to use their land for our venture. We erected a fence and polytunnels and sustained a water supply. The community nursery is now up and running, providing plants and gardening services to the local community as well the staff there looking after the planters within the village. The nursery also has provision for a classroom where local school children and adult learners frequently visit to develop their gardening skills. The nursery is more than happy to accommodate residents who wish to come along and volunteer their time and the nursery is proving to be a real asset to the community.
Sue Walton is the Manager of the Community Nursery and landscaping services. She has been with the project from the beginning and organised a lot of the preparation work involved in the transformations, including ordering thousands of plants, baskets, tubs and tools etc. Sue also oversaw the development of the community nursery, as well as gaining the permission of the local council totransform their land.
The campaign has required a huge amount of publicity to gain the support of the community and to recruit volunteers. This included banners, leaflets, posters, press releases and networking with local business and partner organisations to gain their support. This has repeatedly been co-ordinated and planned by Mike Storey and the team at Informnorth Creative Services, who are based in the area, with the support of Sonia Graham from Acumen Trust.
During the first campaign every household in Horden and Easington Colliery received a questionnaire asking if they would like a free hanging basket or planter and more importantly if they would be willing to donate some time towards volunteering for the campaign. We were looking for anybody who had any ideas of their own as to what they would like to see transpire over the two day period.
The following years we offered to replant the original planters and hanging baskets distributed, or indeed any the residents had bought themselves. There was a small price attached to this service to cover the costs of the plants.
Over the four year period we have held a series of community meetings whereby residents, representitive from the schools, members of support agencies and local businesses have been invited to discuss their views and give their opinions. The campaign has hit barriers along the way and at times the planning can be time consuming and a little stressful but each problem was dealt with and overcome successfully.
In order to enter the Northumbria in Bloom competition we were also required to provide documented evidence of our achievements over the past year. This involved putting together a portfolio that included photographs of before and after of the areas we had changed and tracked our accomplishments to date.
One method we used to raise the profile and funds for the campaign was to have 5000 bright orange awareness bands produced. They had the logo “I’m Bloomin’ Marvellous” embossed and proved to be quite popular amongst the younger members of the local community. They were sold for £1 and distributed throughout schools, colleges, local businesses, shops, public houses and clubs. We also sold many through the larger employers situated in the neighbouring industrial estates of Peterlee including Orange, Npower, HM Customs and Excise, Walkers, Easington Primary Care Trust, Metro Mail plus many more. The response was fantastic and many people bought at least one band.
