Well done to South West in Bloom winners

The South West In Bloom awards included some fantastic results for locations in Westerleigh ward.

The Dodington Allotments Association (pictured left, who put in the hard work on the new allotment site this year) gained Level 5 Outstanding in the Neighbourhoods on the Pennant Route category.

Wapley Common & the Orchard for the Future (pictured below) also got a Level 5 Outstanding. Wapley Bushes Local Nature Reserve got a Level 3 Developing in the Neighbourhoods Awards.

Last night the certificates for these and all the other winners in the Yate and Dodington area were presented at a volunteers' evening at Poole Court. Congratulations to all concerned!

New Wapley allotments officially open

On Saturday the new Dodington Parish Council allotments at Wapley were officially opened by the council's Vice-Chair John Davis.

He was joined by Wendy Mayo, Clerk to the Parish Council, who did a huge amount of work to get the project up and running. There was also a representative from Merlin, who provided grants towards parts of the project, and of course there were allotment holders of all ages.

Claire Young was there as the local ward councillor. The land used to be part of the South Glos Council-owned Wychwell Farm. When the council decided to sell it off, as it was too small to be viable, Claire had a meeting with an officer and suggested the Parish Council might be interested in purchasing some of it for allotments. That was the easy part! It was then over to Dodington Parish Council to do all the hard work involved in a project of this kind.

The allotment holders are doing a fantastic job, looking at the thriving plots it was hard to believe they only started at Easter. As one of them commented, it really is bringing together people of all ages, from tiny tots to pensioners.