Wilberfoss in Bloom
A bench to celebrate the Gold Award won by Wilberfoss in Bloom in 2014 was designed and hand-crafted by a Mike Skelton and installed by students from York College.
The voluntary group known as Wilberfoss in Bloom was formed in July 2007 in response to requests in the Parish Plan for floral displays in and around the village. Since then thousands of daffodils and spring bulbs have been planted, floral planters have been sited throughout the village and several small gardens have been created for the enjoyment of everyone. Fundraising enables us to keep up the displays and to maintain the planters. Support from the community is encouraging and the group warmly welcomes volunteers to our regular working meetings.
Calling everybody who lives in Wilberfoss who wants to do a bit of gardening!!
There are currently more than a dozen volunteers catering for the needs of our planting pockets by watering and weeding. There is no need to have experience to be a volunteer, or to have great knowledge of plants (we don't ourselves as we are just amateur gardeners who want to keep our village looking tidy and colourful for the enjoyment of everybody). That is what was so rewarding when we won the Gold Award, we are not professionals, just people who like gardening.
Can you help?
Our borders and planters are still looking good, and a big "thank you" goes to all of you who have been helping with the watering etc. We are happy to give a big welcome to our new lady helpers but where are the guys? We have a few gentlemen who help us every now and again for which we are very grateful, but we're wondering where the gardeners are amongst our male residents? There must be a few of you who could help us keep the village looking good!
If you fancy dabbling in a bit of gardening look out for the notices at the corner of Storking Lane which will tell you when we're meeting up.
We are extremely grateful to the companies and individual businesses who generously sponsor In Bloom . We are organising new planters and your support means we can purchase really substantial ones.
For more information about In Bloom please contact Margaret on 07880 841020.
A Royal thank you to Wilberfoss in Bloom
In 2013 Wilberfoss in Bloom celebrated after receiving a Duke of York Community Initiative award for the work they do in the community. It must have inspired them as they went on to win Gold in the Yorkshire in Bloom competition in 2014!
The Duke of York’s Community Initiative is presented annually to a small number of Yorkshire based organisations that, having been subjected to rigorous and robust scrutiny, are deemed ‘of real value to the community, well run and an inspiration to others’.
The community group was named as one of just 40 recipients of the prestigious award. Chairman of Wilberfoss in Bloom, Margaret Smith, said: “The award is for involving the community, taking pride in our place and brightening things up. “Somebody suggested we should apply for it, so we filled in a form and then we were assessed to find out what we hoped to achieve, how we go about it, whether we have regular meetings etc. “They wanted to check that we had proper accounts and a constitution and are a bona fide organisation. We do a lot of fundraising, so we are handling donations and they needed to be sure we are who we say we are.”
Wilberfoss in Bloom was founded in 2007 to improve the image of the village, by planting and maintaining previously shabby and neglected areas with colourful sustainable displays. “We are constantly looking for things to improve, such as the bus stops. People always say, when they see us at work, that it brings a smile to their faces. Everyone appreciates it, and it is good to give something back to the community.”
The initiative, which was founded by His Royal Highness The Duke of York in 1998, exists to both encourage and reward innovative and inspirational community projects in Yorkshire and the Humber. Four representatives of Wilberfoss in Bloom travelled to Bridlington Spa’s Royal Hall to attend a luncheon at which His Royal Highness personally presented recipients of the 2013 awards with their citations. “He offered us his congratulations and, although he was late, he didn’t give the impression of being in a rush and he went down the line and spoke to everyone in the group,” Margaret said.
