04 Nov CROP OF AWARDS INSPIRING BAY COMMUNITY GARDEN TO ‘GROW’CROP OF AWARDS INSPIRING BAY COMMUNITY GARDEN TO ‘GROW’
From left, Dan Best, Jennifer Stoneman and Cricketfield Community Garden session lead Paddy Caines
Torquay’s Cricketfield Community Garden is harvesting trophies galore for the role it plays within the Hele and Barton communities.
The community project in Hele, Torquay, has had residents and local volunteers caring for the site for six years and is supported by Hele and Lower Barton Community Partnership, Torbay Community Development Trust and Sylvan Adventures CIC, among others.
Last week, the garden was a runner-up in the BBC Radio Devon Make A Difference Awards 2022 and was also highly commended for working with the residents of the neighbourhood, Torre Primary School, DofE students, Torbay Council’s Tree Warden Scheme having a micro tree nursery.
Cricketfield Community Garden has also been selected by the Co-op community in Barton area – for the third year running – as a local cause for 2022-2023.
The funds raised will help support the two micro tree nurseries and the orchard, where people taking part learn new skills, grow fruit, and make friends. Residents, South Devon College students and tree wardens are regular visitors to the community garden.
The garden also achieved a level four ‘thriving’ in the South West Bay in Bloom 2022 It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards, for community involvement, including the organisational partnerships with Hele and Barton Lower Community Partnership, TCDT, Torquay Academy and the Thrive Project.
Through these partnerships, Cricketfield Community Garden has developed a series of community events across the year including seed and plant swaps, an annual summer fete, social barbecues and a teddy bears’ picnic. Funding recently secured by the Thrive Project will enable the creation of a wildlife area with a series of bug hotels and a pond. All these habitat improvements are supporting and encouraging a wide range of butterflies, crickets and dragonflies on site.
Dan Best, community builder for Hele, Barton and Watcombe, said: “We are thrilled that everyone’s efforts have been recognised and plan to keep growing these successes so that Cricketfield Community Garden is able to offer members of our community a place to belong, to breathe and to grow.”
You can find Cricketfield Community Garden on Cricketfield Road, or for more information online at www.facebook.com/CricketFieldRd.CommunityGarden
