Britain In Bloom 2009

Posted on Monday, July 27, 2009 by Peter
Tags: Heathan, Judging

The organising group for the Balsall Heath ‘in bloom’ project began their work in the autumn of last year and decided to concentrate on three main themes, firstly to try and raise funding though sponsorship to help with purchasing better quality products and plants, secondly to involve all the schools in the project and lastly to focus on a much smaller judging route.

Moseley and District Church Housing Association were secured as the principle sponsor and were supported by six other housing providers. Without their financial support it would possible to achieve Balsall Heath ‘in bloom’.

Throughout the run up to the judging day hundreds of children in Balsall Heath have been actively learning about the various aspects of cultivation. The result was a meal to be eaten at the end of the judging. Judges for the competition on the day were shown a small area of the neighbourhood, which in the past had suffered from neglect with high levels of graffiti, litter, rubbish dumping and anti social behaviour. Now there is an array of hanging baskets and residents actively involved in looking after their area.

Achievements

This year the organisers managed to plant 15,000 winter and summer plants in beds and open spaces throughout the neighbourhood. As well as the planting there has been a big push every week to clean graffiti from the parks, open spaces and streets. Litter picking in the parks with the help of three local primary schools has become a regular feature and has made a big difference. In total an average of around 15 tons of rubbish has been cleared from the streets and open spaces every month. This is in addition to all the rubbish that the council take away.

On top of this pupils at Tindal School designed a new garden at the main entranceway to the school while120 pupils from Queensbridge Secondary School spent a day in the neighbourhood learning about the community and then participated in a number of environmental projects.

In addition primary schools and other volunteers have continued to plant more daffodil bulbs in the local parks adding to the tons of bulbs that have already been planted. Offenders on the Community Punishment programme have also helped on a weekly basis to keep the neighbourhood clean and tidy. A donation by a local resident of fifty trees which have been planted out in the parks, open spaces and schools throughout the neighbourhood have also helped.

The result of all this hard work and much more with regards to the Britain in Bloom competition will be known in Septemeber.

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