Torre churchyard was once a derelict place fulls of weeds and an attractive spot for alcholics and drug users.
The Friends of the Churchyard began to renovate. They were awarded £300 to buy more plants after a visit by Council workers in November.
School children planted greater knapweed, lesser spearwort, meadow buttercup, musk mallow, primrose and wild grasses — 20 species of plant were sown in 450 plugs in the shadow of St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Church. The garden won a special award for community projects and helped Torquay to achieve the South West in Bloom Gold Award.
It was to be the centre piece of the towns bid for Britain in Bloom. The mayor and officers from the regeneration deparmtent were impressed UNFORTUNATELY the officers responsible for the maintenance of parks and football pitches were not. They thought it looked unkempt and guess what? The council came along with a nice motor mow and cut it!!
A spokesman for the council said “Unfortunately the wildflower meadow was included in the first round of grass cutting for the year. We are deeply sorry for the upset it may have caused.”
Margaret Forbes Hamilton, chairman of the Friends of the Churchyard group, was incandescent. “We had just had two or three months of really good growth because of the weather,” she said. “It’s a typical case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand’s doing at the council.”
She once had high hopes for the Britain in Bloom awards. “Now what do we have?” she asked. “A nice patch of mown lawn. We still intend to enter and will tell them exactly what the council has done.”
4 comments:
Thought for a moment it was a wind up...Audrey fforbes hamilton being a close relative perhaps?
I can tell you this is something that can and does happen! One of our local parks has half of it dedicated as a natural nature space(the other half has childrens swings and stuff and sitting areas) and once the deligent lawn mower types attacked it! Have to say after I finished with the dept they didn't do it again!!
C
Ungggghhhh (holding her hands over her eyes).
Talking of lawn-mowing - far too much of that going on.
c why am I not surprised!
Diddums - my father is obsessed with mowing the lawn. If he can he does it in january!!
I thought it was an April joke at first when I read it - rather sad now--myself I would prefer all tall native grasses and lovely natural weeds everywhere but my municipality won't let me - by-laws says I must have a lawn!!! Thus I must waste water by watering it and so on!!!
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