News 2011

October 2011

 Life has been very hectic fo Wellesbourne in Bloom with the announcement
of  yet another gold award, our third in a row and the preparations for the
 launch of our Community Spaces National Lottery funded "St Peters Church
 Wildlife Project". A project which has been 4 years in the making.

 We are so grateful to all our helpers as the six of us couldn't possibly
achieve what we have without them. Our launch for the wildlife project was
 a huge success. With displays of the project, crafts for the
children such  as  clay beastie making, stain glass window making
and not forgetting the "St Peters Church" fridge magnets and badges that
were made not only by the children, but were methodically coloured in by
the adults as well, it was  a huge success. The ribbon was cut
by Michael Twite of Michael Twite Landscapes who has been our lead
professional on the project and helped us so much with his expertise and
rescuing in times of need. Over 100 people came to visit the project
launch and the new eco bench was something that visitors were intrigued
with. We have had so much help with the project  from so many
people, the Lions laid the wildflower turf over the eco bench and

surrounds like "Carpet fitters R Us". The Warwickshire Wildlife Trust
have been our project managers and we cannot thank Julie and Amanda
enough for all the hard work they have put in. The new church gates have
gone in so that is the last of the big installation work completed. We
have some more wildflowers and bulbs to go in and will be holding events
throughout the year.

With the closing of the Police Station some of the plants that were
 planted by Wellesbourne in Bloom are finding a new home At "Chedhams Yard" as
 Wellesbourne in Bloom have been invited to join the "Chedhams" gardening
 group and are keen tohelp where we can.

 All the summer bedding has to be removed and we start over again with the
 winter bedding and the planning for the following year so it never really stops.

 A heart felt thank you to all those people who have helped us with our
 "Bloom"campaign and the church project.

 Heather Sims
 Chairman
Wellesbourne in Bloom

Newsflash September 15th 2011

WIB Strikes GOLD for THIRD successive year,

THanks to all our Helpers.

For More on Judging .... See More Click Here

Busy Bloomers
 
Wellesbourne in Bloom have been busy around the village
tidying the planters and flower beds. The new “Hastings Road” gardens are
flourishing and the spring bulbs which were planted in the Autumn are now in
full bloom along the side of the bungalow adjacent to the site. Pruning has been
required at many sites as the harsh winter has taken its toll on the many shrubs
around the village.
 
The library landscaping has been completed now and although
the weather played havoc with our planting of the  bulbs and they weren’t
planted until early March it now looks a splendid Spring scene. We have been
asked by several residents what species the trees are, so we are in the process
of making some labels to attach to the trees for residents
information.
 
We are currently refurbishing the “Precinct Planter”. It is
tradition that it is planted with herbs so that customers at “Keith Russell’s
Butchers” can pick a sprig of herbs to go with their choice of meat. Keith
planted the planter originally , but over the years it has become overgrown and
a complete  replanting is needed. We are also fortunate that “Walton Estates”
have agreed to pay for the precinct to be sprayed with weed killer to make our
job so much easier. It is a long and laborious job weeding between the flag
stones.
 
The centre of the village is looking very smart with the new
path to the Newbold One Stop now in place. With the new bollards, new path and
Johns excellent grass cutting skills ,the area has been
transformed.
 
More trees have been planted on the green open space in
Willow Drive, courtesy of the “Environment Agency” as a gesture of goodwill to
Wellesbourne in Bloom due to the groundwork’s that had to be done whilst flood
defence work was carried out. This was on one of our bulb planted sites. We are
grateful to Adam from the Environment Agency and Gavin the County tree
specialist for sorting this out for us.
 
The Probation Service have been working tirelessly for us,
preparing the School Annex gardens for the growing season for the ultra keen
children.  They have finished putting up the polytunnel, dug raised beds in and
out of the polytunnel, barked the newly created garden and painted fences. If
that was not enough they have been busy tidying the church yard and painting the
railings after liaising with Wellesbourne in Bloom on the churches behalf. They
have worked every weekend for the last month.  We are so grateful for all their
efforts.
 
 
 
St Peters Church Wildlife Project
 
Our “Community Spaces” lottery funded project at St Peters
Church is moving on apace the kerb has been dropped, the hedging is in thanks to
the scouts, the planters have been delivered for outside the church centre and
are at this moment resplendent with spring bulbs.
 
In the last two weeks the first major part of the project has
been completed. This is the installation of the disabled path through the copse
on the left hand side of the drive. Greenkeeping and Horticultural students from
Warwickshire College at Moreton Morrell and their lecturer Greg have spent the
last two Tuesdays working like trojans clearing and laying the path. It was
extremely hard work clearing the site and getting it ready for the path laying.
The path is a surface path and not dug in as there are many large established
trees and we did not want to damage any roots. The path is a honey combed
structure filled with gravel then topped with Bredon gravel which binds together
to make an excellent path. It was a hive of activity with Michael Twite our
“Lead Professional” for this project popping down to see how things were getting
on.
 
We had so much fun with the students they were brilliant and
lunch was provided by the “Bloomers”. We have never seen cakes, pasties and
rolls disappear so quick but it was hungry work. Our new raised planter was also
delivered for in front of the bin shed, this comprised of several huge, cut to
size sleepers. Unfortunately we were unable to put it up the first week so
Michael arranged for it to be kept at his yard.   The following week Michael’s
men came down cleared the site and put up the raised planter for us, another
huge job crossed off the list. They also kindly bought down a whacker plate to
finish of the path after the students had laid all the Bredon
gravel.
 
As an extra bonus Greg suggested that the students could also
put in all the sensory posts that go along the path for the children going to
pre-school at the church centre. Never in our wildest dreams did we ever imagine
that we would get the tremendous amount of help that we have had with this
project. Plenty of village groups gave us letters of support but we are so
grateful that people have been true to their word. Also not to be forgotten is
Julie Turner of the “Warwickshire Wildlife Trust” who has worked on this project
with us. The “Warwickshire Wildlife Trust” are our project managers for this
project which is in Wellesbourne in Blooms name. Julie has worked so hard in
making sure the project goes to plan and has the job of dealing with all the
paperwork for which we are eternally grateful.
 
In the Easter holidays we are having an artists workshop with
several young members of the congregation and local children. This will be run
by our commissioned artist for the project and we hope the children will give
him plenty of ideas for our “Natures stained glass window” screen to be put in
front of the bin sheds and behind the new raised planter.
 
In May topsoil is to be added along the path for planting and
the copse will be tidied and planted with shrubs and plants that attract
wildlife.
 
This means we will have the wildflower planting, erection of
new church gates, erection of trellis screening for the boiler flue,
construction of the bio friendly seat, habitat housing to site and the sensory
area to complete before it is all done. But we are confident all our friends
will help us.