Seed Sharing Saturday
Wednesday 10th March
Bedford in Bloom’s first seed-sharing event
has been hailed as a blooming success!
Hundreds of seed packets were exchanged or
given away to more than 100 green-fingered visitors who came to the
event at the Bunyan Meeting Free Church on Saturday morning.
The In Bloom team even gave away packs of the
specialist ‘Heritage Seed’ which cannot be bought anywhere else in
the country whilst Mile Road Allotments & Leisure Association,
sold more than 50 packets of their own.
It was the first time Bedford in Bloom had
organised an event like this and it aimed to encourage more people
to get involved with the incredibly successful campaign.
In 2008 and 2009 Bedford won a gold award in
the regional Anglia in Bloom competition as well as landing silver
at the national Britain in Bloom competition last year. In fact,
the scheme has been so successful that individual wards in the
borough are now being recognised regionally.
Jill Ferry of the British Trust for
Conservation Volunteers in Bedford and Peter Bull of Zero Carbon
Castle helped to organise the day and said: “The event was a
wonderful gathering of home growers and allotment enthusiasts
sharing their saved seeds and knowledge and inspiring some non
growing Bedfordians to take advantage of some free seeds and get
their hands dirty!
“Credit to all those that gave up their time
on the day or made some beautiful cakes. It was a truly memorable
day and will surely not be the last time we do something like
this.”
In Bloom were also delighted to include other
local organisations that are also passionate about growing quality
food. Taste Real Food Bedford demonstrated how good home-grown food
can taste with their leek and potato soup, which had been cooked by
students from The Foyer. Whilst the mental health charity, Mind,
had a stand run by volunteers and members, to promote their work
and help raise the confidence of the people they work with.
Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, said:
“The Bedford in Bloom partners deserve a huge amount of credit for
the success of this day.
“It is amazing to think this is the first time
an event like this has been organised and the number of people
attending and the number of seed packets given out and sold bodes
incredibly well for the future
“I certainly hope this won’t be the last time
we see a Seed Sharing Saturday in Bedford.”