We've been making Stony Stratford even more beautiful since 2007
It's Your Neighbourhood Groups and School Gardening
The Stony Stratford North End Pond Project
This area was formerly a litter-filled eye-sore. In 2010 Mary Robinson and Robin Nichols started clearing it, and in 2012 formed an ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ group under Stony Stratford in Bloom. Since then they have continued to enhance the area for its wildlife, and the RHS has recognised the value of the project. A number of pond-life species now inhabit and visit the pond, including ducks, moorhens, frogs, newts, dragonflies and butterflies. Water has an important role in the life cycle of many invertebrates (dragonflies, mosquitoes), and amphibians, (frogs and toads). Bulrushes, water lilies and other plants have been donated by SSIB members. The pond is surrounded by a native wildflower meadow, with corn marigolds, red and white campion, ragged robin, lady’s bedstraw, teasels and vetch. In 2017 Primroses and cowslips were planted by the Junior Parks Trust rangers – all attracting insects and pollinators – so vital for our environment. In 2023 a second pond was created to help prevent flooding and encourage more wildlife. In an adjacent small woodland area, bird boxes, bat boxes and an owl nesting box have been put up to encourage a thriving wildlife. A bug hotel and snake pit were built in 2014, and a rustic viewing platform jetty added in 2015. Pupils from Russell St Primary School have enjoyed their visits to the site, and new paths and walkways have been added with a grant from the National Grid. The higher ground has been enhanced for amenity/enjoyment as well as wild-life. Dominic Harris (Manor Drives) has kindly provided sponsorship in kind for constructing the paths and walkways. Awards Each year from 2016 onwards to the present, the North End Pond and Wildlife It’s Your Neighbourhood project has been assessed as OUTSTANDING. In 2018 Mary Robinson and Robin Nichols were awarded the prestigious RHS Certificate of Distinction.
School Gardening
In 2009, soon after Stony in Bloom began, SIB volunteers built a magnificent polytunnel in the grounds of St Mary and St Giles School, and began giving school gardening sessions there – which have continued apart from a year or so from the end of 1919, when building work in the school garden took place and then Covid got in the way! Just before Covid struck, the school had attained the highest level, Level 5, in the Campaign for School Gardening – and everyone was very proud of that! We were very proud, too, when the school won the prestigious Mark Mattock School Challenge at the Thames and Chilterns BIB Awards Ceremony in 2011. But more important has been the enthusiasm of the pupils for growing vegetables. At the start some of the vegetables were used for school lunches in the school kitchen, and when in recent years meals were no longer cooked on the premises, the pupils have been giving the produce to the King’s Foodbank in Wolverton and the Fullers Slade Food Pantry – or using them to make delicious soup to eat themselves. While Covid regulations were still in place, SSiB volunteers were invited to come back to help prepare the grounds to begin gardening with some of the pupils who were at the school in lockdown; and then in 2020, Kate Shaw and Judy Deveson were delighted to be able to start a lunchtime gardening club, which has been very popular. In 2022 Andy Malleson joined Judy - and the enthusiasm of the pupils has continued. There have been wonderful harvests of tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and chard. Meanwhile, at the Galley Hill Site (now SMSG South Site), gardening sessions have been organised intermittently since 2011. However, in 2021 Anu Chundur, working with Lisa, the Nursery School Teacher, and SSIB volunteers, began preparations for school gardening to resume with the nursery pupils. At SMSG North and South site sustainable methods are used – peat-free compost, mulching on top of a layer of cardboard with manure, leaf compost and general composting. The pupils at both schools are involved in sowing, planting and harvesting the vegetables, and are encouraged to try all the varied vegetables they have grown. The pupils have also had the chance to plant tete-a-tete bulbs and watch them grow at home, and also had the fun of planting up old wellies with compost and petunias and hanging them on the fence at the school. Each year since 2020 SSIB has organised a Sunflower Competition for school children in all the schools in the town, sponsored by Ron and Eileen Cox. Each child was given a pack with a pot, compost and seeds and there were prizes for the tallest sunflower. In 2021 there was a competition to design a Spirituality Garden in each school, and SSiB volunteers were invited to judge. We were hugely impressed by the entries, and Lucas won at SMSG South Site and Fleur and Ava won at SMSG North. Since then, the pupils have taken great delight in bringing these plans to life to create beautiful, peaceful gardens at each school.
York House Community Gardens It's Your Neighbourhood Group
Since Covid, Stony In Bloom volunteers have taken over the maintenance of York House Community gardens to grow vegetables for the King’s Foodbank in Wolverton and the Fullers Slade Food Pantry. Brief History of York House Community Gardens • 2011 York House Community Gardens opened, having gained a grant from Ecominds Charity, with the help of Alain Welch. He helped provide a plan for the proposed gardens. • Community Groups were invited to take a plot – including a group of Mind clients; Stony in Bloom (which used the plot as a nursery for winter plants over the summer); Headstart; the WI; and Youth Groups. • In January 2014 SSIB volunteers joined York House volunteers to plant up the orchard as part of the DEFRA Big Tree Plant • September 2014 Agreement between York House and Theresa Wedderburn’s BranchOutMK CIC (A Community Interest Group providing horticultural therapy for adults with autism and learning difficulties) to oversee the maintenance of the gardens. • September 2014 York House gained sponsorship and volunteering from Mercedes to build the polytunnel, and in 2016 sponsorship and volunteering help from Mercedes to lay down non-slip paths, and in 2018 to redesign the raised bed at the front, and lay turf for a new lawn and astroturf for a basketball court at the back. • In 2018 Government cuts meant the Mind group lost their organiser and left, and increasingly, BranchOutMK needed to focus on its larger premises out of Stony Stratford. And then there was Covid! With the onset of Covid in 2020, and Foodbanks seeing a huge rise in demand from people in need – and with most plots in York House Community Gardens lying idle - Stony in Bloom volunteers approached the Trustees to suggest that SSIB could grow vegetables there for the King’s Community Foodbank in Wolverton, and the Fullers Slade Food Pantry. The Trustees were happy to agree. With the help of MK Community Foundation grants, since then we have been able to grow a wide variety of vegetables and fruit, and to deliver at least 2 large boxes of fruit and vegetables to the Foodbank from May to the end of October each year. Each Wednesday a group of Stony in Bloom volunteers meets to sow seeds, plant, maintain the beds and harvest when the produce is ready. The wider SSIB volunteer group joins the smaller group when this is necessary, and in November 2023 there was a Sunday Volunteering Day bringing in a wider group of volunteers from the town to deal with bigger tasks. SSIB has been following No-Dig gardening – mulching the plots with leaves, chippings and home-made compost – and we have found this method both sustainable and very productive. We have also been maintaining the flower-garden, sowing flowers such as cornflowers, ox-eye daisies, marigolds and scabious – encouraging bees and butterflies. Awards Since 2016 York House Community Gardens It’s Your Neighbourhood Group has gained each year an ‘Outstanding’ assessment. In 2021, in the RHS National Finals of the In Bloom Competition, York House Community Gardens were joint winners of the ‘Nourishing the Community’ award.
Thanks to Milton Keyne Community Foundation for their grant no. A635090 in 2022 which helped us intitate this project.
Fullers Slade It's Your Neighbourhood Group
The Fullers Slade Residents Association (FSRA) was set up to bring the community together and work to improve the environment in a number of ways. As an additional means of enhancing the environment, Bianca Bendig-Ceesay formed a sub-group, the Fullers Slade Gardening Club, and entered as an RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood Group in 2019. In partnership with the Fullers Slade Residents Association and as part of the Spider Park Rejuvenation, they won grants totalling up to more than £60,000 to buy and install play and fitness equipment and to create 2 additional flower beds adjacent to the flower bed that had already been created by Stony Stratford in Bloom (SSiB) earlier in the year. The Fullers Slade Gardening Club, is an inclusive project, working together with local churches like the House of Champions Ministries and the Stony Stratford Community Church, the Estate Renewal Forum, local councillors, and residents to improve the environment not only by maintaining the new flower beds, but by holding bi-monthly litter picks and following up and reporting on fly-tipping. The FS Gardening Club has close relationships with the local Neighbourhood Police Team, who have been very supportive. Stony Stratford in Bloom supports the Fullers Slade IYN by helping at the summer events with children’s planting workshops and holding joint work parties to maintain the flower beds on the estate. SSiB also assisted the group by putting them in contact with a local charitable group called “Tools for Self Reliance”, providing access to cheap gardening tools. In their first year of entry as an It’s Your Neighbourhood Group FSIYN was assessed at Level 4, Flourishing, and has maintained that high level ever since. During Covid, Bianca and the IYN group organised the Fullers Slade Food Pantry, delivering food to those in need, and this has continued since then. They have liaised with SSIB to have some fruit and vegetables from York House Community Gardens in addition to receiving donations from local residents and councillors. A gardening group has been set up too at the Rowans Centre, where lots of fruit and vegetables have been grown, some of which are available on a local barrow for residents to take. Parents and children work to maintain the raised beds there. The flower beds have flourished and are much admired by local residents and visitors passing in the buses. For 2024 the FS Gardening Group has made plans to become even more visible and inclusive. A £1000 grant from Milton Keynes City Council, as part of the Fullers Club Initiative will help with this. The idea is to finance the purchase of specialist gardening tools for people with arthritis or mobility issues and custom embroidered clothing with the logo of the Fullers Slade Gardening Club, Fullers Slade in Bloom.
Galley Hill It's Your Neighbourhood Group
In 2021 Anu Chundur set up the Galley Hill It’s Your Neighbourhood Group working together with the Galley Hill Residents’ Association, the school, the local shop, local residents and the Community Church to make the community spaces attractive for the benefit of all; to encourage wildlife; to encourage eco-friendly methods of gardening; to teach the next generation about growing their own food; to improve mental health and wellbeing; to keep the neighbourhood clean and litter-free; to discourage anti-social behaviour; to foster a sense of community spirit and pride in the local area; and to give everyone a sense of joy and pride in the group’s achievements. They are achieving these aims in a number of ways. 2022 Galley Hill Celebrated its 50th Anniversary Galley Hill IYN arranged a Children’s Planting Activity at the event, where children planted marigolds in pots to take home. And an Easter Egg Hunt. Enhancing the Local Area With Shop front planters and flower beds, hanging baskets - and installing trellis and planting along the property boundary Bringing together the shop owners, GH Gardening Club, and Macintyre Charity to maintain these Setting up Street Sign Planters Recycling pallets to use as planters Each court has their own volunteer making sure planters are watered over the summer months. In Partnership with Stony Stratford In Bloom (SSIB) Stony Stratford In Bloom volunteers maintain the following community beds: Three rose beds at the main entrances to Galley Hll; Round Bed between Clailey Court and Caterpillar park; Ribbon Bed between Clailey Court and Saint Mary and Saint Giles School. Recently started working alongside Macintyre charity. Weekly visits to tend the shop front beds Litter-pick around the shopfront area During school holidays they also look after the vegetable beds and spiritual garden GHIYN Group School Engagement (See Under School Section) Future Projects Corner planters / troughs for all the courts in Galley Hill Water butts in each court to provide water for the new flower beds. Local church – interested in starting veg boxes, and pollinator/flower planters on the balcony above the local shop. In conclusion The Galley Hill IYN is passionate about our community, nature, our environment, and believe in bringing people together through a shared appreciation and love for gardening. Our school and community programmes connect people from across our diverse communities, with many coming together for the first time as a result of the group. We’ve introduced children and families to the joys of gardening. They have learned about vegetables, plants, recycling, sustainability, and ways of brightening their environment at the same time. We are very grateful for the support of our volunteers; local school, local businesses, and the Community Church, without whom none of this would be possible. Thanks to everyone’s efforts, we are helping make our community a happier and brighter place.
