Village flower festival going for gold

‘Wednesfield In Bloom’ has its roots back in 2015 and first entered the Heart of England contest the following year.

Now organisers are hoping for a continued run of success in 2019, with volunteers coming out in force over the last few weeks to help with planting and putting up floral decorations along the High Street and Bentley Bridge areas.

Councillor Phil Bateman, who is one of the co-ordinators, said: “We first discovered the competition back in 2015. Volunteers from the ‘Hands on Wednesfield’ group came up with the idea of entering.

“They thought it would appeal to residents and it fitted in with their own vision of volunteering and generally lifting the soul of the village.

“At the time, the city council was not in a position to help and austerity measures were pushing it close to financial meltdown. The Parks Department was in a dire situation and the council shed some 2,000 jobs. Flowers and rose gardens etc, grass cutting and the maintenance of green spaces were among the first services to take a hit.

“They were tough times but it did create the right conditions for the ‘Hands on Wednesfield’ volunteers to step up and appeal for public help and funds to tidy up the the village centre. They started by clearing weeds and digging over flower beds and then took over responsibility for the planting of those beds.

“The council was keen to help the volunteers and gave them permission to move in on areas that had been abandoned. In the winter of 2015 plans were laid and the village started to see what was happening in the early months of 2016. At the end of that period the ‘Britain In Bloom’ inspectors came and in September we found out we had won a silver award,” he added.

“In 2017 more people got involved and we won gold then and again last year. The fact that our volunteers are so diverse culturally also adds to what we have achieved. The Gurdwara Temple is heavily involved and its grounds are transformed into really fine border gardens.

“This year we have extended the ‘Wednesfield in Bloom’ bid into Ashmore Park which, when it was first built in the early 1950s, was one of the largest housing estates in the country.”

The overall Wednesfield bid takes in the shopping parade on Griffiths Drive and also The Hub, Ashmore Park Nursery, The Ashmore Inn and St Alban’s Church alongside the core village entry of St Thomas’s Church, The Gurdwara, library, Sainsbury’s and the Amphitheatre plus Bentley Bridge.