Well no-one was quite expecting the last year or so to be what it has been! St Annes in Bloom may not have been as visible over that time but we have certainly been busy “behind the scenes” with lots of preparations for the future.
We have been fortunate to receive continued support from St Annes Town Council and Fylde Borough Council which has certainly helped us to keep going and we are very grateful for this support.
Work on our allotment has continued and we now have a functioning space we can use as a base for our activities. We have produced most of our own plants either from cuttings or seeds and this has helped us in our aim to be fully sustainable and also very satisfying as we see things coming to fruition.
We have put out lots of these planters around town and local businesses have taken on the task of caring for them and watering which has helped to reduce to load on our volunteers. Due to the restrictions we have been working with our volunteers have been limited not only in numbers but also in what activities could be carried out safely.
Watering has always posed a mammoth task and especially during the hot weather in June and July we have been helped immensely by business owners taking on some responsibility for this.
We have taken on some new areas along the promenade and a new gardening group has started work on Thursday afternoons. Along with the Friday group in the Peace and Happiness Garden this has meant we can work safely in small groups and still achieve good results.
The area beside the Train Café on the promenade has been transformed with the placement of extra tubs and additions to the planting in the large (previously neglected ) large planters.
The area beside the Toby sign has been cleared of bindweed – a back breaking but very worthwhile job – and planted up with a selection of wind and drought tolerant plants. The owners of the train café have kindly let us use their water supply to keep the area watered when necessary and also provided us with some refreshments. The management of the Toby Carvery have also been very generous in supplying us with refreshments as a thank-you for completing the work in this area.
It is very satisfying to see previously drab areas transformed with colour and if you would like to join us as a volunteer to help with this you will be most welcome. Just get in touch either via our contacts on this page or our Facebook page for more details.
In September we took part in the St Annes Town Council September Spectacular in Ashton Gardens. This was our first “public” event for some time and it was a great opportunity to meet lots of local people, visitors and friends to show some of our projects and have some fun with “roll a penny” and a photo opportunity. We also held a plant sale on the Sunday which helped us to raise some funds.
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St Anne's in Bloom 