HOOK IN BLOOM – NOVEMBER 2017

 

PROGRESS

 

As villagers will see, winter planting is under way and we are hoping that ‘rent a crowd’ has turned out as Focus goes to press to tidy some areas and plant all the bulbs that have arrived. We want to keep adding to the bulb planting year on year so that we create bigger and better displays each year. We chose large pansies and creeping jenny for the tubs and baskets around the village because they are cost effective, easy to maintain, and cheer and brighten up the dark days of winter. We also checked on the bulbs we planted last year and they are already shooting under the soil – so they were given a feed too.

Everyone loved the wildflower planting and the good news is that with the support of Hart District Council there will be more wild flower planting next year.

We are also looking into having another chainsaw sculpture in 2018.

If anyone sees a minority of youths pulling the planting out in some of our village troughs please can they tactfully ask them to refrain from doing so. We have added coffee grounds to the village sign troughs in the hope that the deer don’t continue to help themselves! We had really healthy geraniums throughout the summer but often not flowers – definitely deer. Evidently they don’t like the smell of coffee.

BAG SOME GOOD NEWS

 

Hook In Bloom has bagged £2,000 from Tesco to help sustain the initiative into 2018. The funding will help the volunteers to hold the popular Hook Village Flower & Produce Show on Sunday 9^th September 2018, the In Bloom competition with the presentation at the show, and free up funds for continual planting. Thank you Tesco for your continued support and helping Hook to bloom in more ways than one!

Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help funding initiative, which sees grants raised from carrier bag sales being awarded to thousands of local community projects every year.

Millions of shoppers voted in stores up and down the country.

“Tesco has given Hook In Bloom a tremendous amount of support and we are very grateful for their continuing help,” says volunteer project leader, Sue Hinton. “I have worked on many corporate community projects over the years and I am particularly impressed with the way that the Tesco initiative benefits their local communities. The whole community benefits from the Hook in Bloom Project.”

Alec Brown, Tesco’s Head of Community, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the response from our customers. The great thing about Bags of Help is that local people are invited to decide how the money will be spent in their community. We can’t wait to see the projects come to life.”

Voting ran in stores throughout July and August with customers choosing which local project they would like to get the top award using a token given to them at the check-out.

Since launching in 2015, Bags of Help has awarded more than £36 million across more than 7,900 local projects.

Tesco customers will get the chance to vote for three different groups each time they shop. Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding.

Bags of Help criteria have recently been extended to include any project that benefits the community. Previously the scheme funded outdoor projects only.

Groundwork’s National Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “Bags of Help continues to fund thousands of projects across the UK. We want to ensure that the money raised benefits as many local people in as many different places as possible so we’ve extended the range of groups and projects that we can support.

“The scale and variety of activities supported by Bags of Helps shows what can be achieved when communities are given the support and the encouragement they need to make change happen in their local area.”

Funding is available to Hook’s community groups and charities looking to fund local projects that bring benefits to communities. Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp.