Community garden in Walsall retains Green Flag prize
Residents tending a public garden in the heart of a community are flying the flag after being rewarded for creating an amazing green space for the fourth year running.
Caldmore Community Garden, in Walsall, which is looked after by Caldmore Village Festival Group is among those recognised for maintaining high standards with a Green Flag Community Award in recognition of its dedicated volunteer involvement.
The garden, situated in Carless Street, Caldmore, is leased from social housing landlord Walsall Housing Group (WHG) and supported by Walsall Council, and was established 11 years ago on a plot of derelict land.
It is now a thriving hub used as a space for recreation, food growing, community events and a children's holiday play scheme.
Caldmore Village Festival chairman Mohammed Arif said: "The staff and volunteers have worked extra hard before, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic to keep the community garden open to the public as it was a vital piece of open space.
“I want to congratulate everyone involved in maintaining the Green Flag status. We are proud of our Green Flag flying high. On behalf of Caldmore Village Festival Board, I want to thank our core partners WHG, Walsall Council and GreenSquareAccord for their continued support.
"We also recognise the role key funders like The National Lottery Community Fund, Tudor Trust, Heart of England Community Fund, People’s Health Trust and West Midlands Combined Authority have played in helping us to achieve this status."
The site is among a total of 133 sites across the West Midlands to be rewarded by Keep Britain Tidy this year.
GreenSquareAccord's area locality manager Stuart Rochelle said: “It’s been a pleasure visiting Caldmore Community Garden today. Creating environments where our customers can thrive is a vital part of social housing because everything we do is about our people.
“We have worked very closely in the Caldmore community for a long time through our involvement with the former Caldmore Area Housing Association. It’s fantastic to see a garden in one of our communities being acknowledged as one of the nation’s best green spaces again this year. Congratulations to everyone involved.”
WHG's operations director Fay Shanahan added: “Green spaces play a hugely important role in bringing local people together and creating happy, healthy communities. Caldmore Community Garden is making a real difference to the health and wellbeing of all those who use it and over the last two years has been a lifeline for local people needing a place to meet and socialise safely.
"We’re really proud to be involved in the garden and would like to congratulate everyone involved in creating such an amazing space.”
