Wollescote Park volunteers celebrate double award success after BBC Gardeners' World appearance

It’s been a good year for the dedicated Friends of Wollescote Park who have made it a double whammy of award wins in the last few weeks.

The group, led by chairman Julia Marks, picked up a Platinum award at BBC Gardeners' World Live 2026 for a garden honouring Dorothy Howell, a composer who lived at Wollescote House overlooking the park located in Wollescote, Stourbridge.

Their display, entitled Composition in the Park, won the show's top award in the Beautiful Borders category at the event held at NEC Birmingham, which attracted around 90,000 visitors over four days.

While they were still celebrating their success at BBC Gardeners’ World Live, the Friends of the Park were awarded the Green Flag Community Award for their sensory garden in the park - a project they have developed since it was officially launched in 2021.

The group of volunteers, who have spent many hours working to improve and beautify the park off Stevens Road, were delighted with their success.

The win at BBC Gardener’s World Live was particularly satisfying, they said, as their garden was inspired by local heroine Dorothy Howell “who is somebody that has been forgotten from time that lived in the park here” - Julia said.

She added: “She was actually a musical genius. She had over 130 compositions that she wrote. And her music really did hit the big time. She played at the London Proms and then was invited to play a huge composition at Buckingham Palace.

“I think a critical component of the garden was to try and create a natural soundscape of noise that had inspired Dorothy to put pen to paper and create lovely music for us.

“And that's what we tried to tell the judges we'd done. So having those elements that would attract wildlife into the garden, the trickling of the stream and the movement of the plants was very important to the garden and probably why we got such a good award.”

She continued: “We knew from the start it would be a challenge for our group to build a garden at Gardeners’ World Live but we all felt inspired by the story of Dorothy, who overcame barriers to become a success at a time when women didn’t have such careers.

“When the judges awarded us the Platinum mark, we looked at each other and cried with pride and then to be voted runners up in the People's Choice Award was simply better than any of us had dreamed of.

“The whole experience truly demonstrates that ordinary people, like us, can absolutely achieve extraordinary things when they believe in something and work hard as a team.”

The award-winning garden is now being recreated in Wollescote Park, creating a permanent tribute to Dorothy Howell and a new space for residents and visitors.

The Friends also plan to restore the pillars at the entrance to Wollescote House, the Howell family home, and hope eventually to add a blue plaque, a commemorative bench and information board in honour of Dorothy’s accomplishments.

Julia added that retaining the Green Flag Community Award in the park for the fourth consecutive year was “testament to the care, dedication and pride that all the volunteers put into this wonderful space” and she added: “It has been a truly awesome adventure and unforgettable year.”

The Friends group meets every Tuesday morning in the sensory garden, just off the main car park, and runs a Friday morning pop-up café throughout the school holidays. They will also host the park’s first Pirate Day on Saturday September 5.

New volunteers are welcome.