Chocolate Garden
After four years of fundraising efforts, the Chocolate Garden in Weston-super-Mare is finally open.
The Bournville Area Residents Association (BARA) has been fundraising tirelessly to raise the £108,000 needed for their community space to be built, and their dream of having a quiet area for local residents is now a reality. With funding help from NSHousing, South Ward Neighbourhood Management Partnership and the Big Lottery Community Spaces Fund, what was once a concrete wasteland has been turned into a friendly community area that will benefit all local residents.
Anne Riney, President of BARA, said "This has been a long journey and one that I often thought may never end. I am over the moon to be able to see the finished garden and hope that the rest of the community get as much enjoyment out of it that I do. It just goes to show that a little persistence and lots of hard work really does pay off."
The Chocolate Garden features wooden seating built by Somerset Wood Recycling, with the wood used in the garden salvaged from the Grand Pier and Marine Lake; and a mural tracing the history of the cocoa bean from its South American origins to present day, designed and painted by Lee Kirby from Flipt Murals.
The garden is open daily from 9am-4:30pm, with a calendar of events scheduled, including gardening sessions, eco events and healthy eating workshops. For information on the events visit www.bournvilleassociation.weebly.com or come to a Bournville Area Residents' Association meeting – meeting dates also on the website.
There will be an official launch party on Thursday the 28th April to celebrate the opening of the garden, look out for more details nearer the time.
Encouraged by the success of the Chocolate Garden, BARA are now looking to future projects and would like to hear from Bournville residents who would like to get involved.
For more information contact Victoria Rooke at the South Ward Neighbourhood Management Partnership on 01934 426736
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New Single Parent Programme Launch
You are invited to the launch of the new Single Parent Programme on Tuesday 1st March at the following locations:
- 10:00 – 12noon at westonworks, 6a St Andrews Parade, Bournville
- 1:00 – 3:00pm at Oldmixon Family Centre, Monkton Avenue, Oldmixon
Enjoy some tea, coffee and cake and talk to our friendly advisors about the new programme for single parents (Mums AND Dads!).
The programme is designed to look at your options, build your confidence, plan your route to work, look at childcare options, and consider your choices and goals.
Most of all…….it’s FUN and a great way to meet other parents!
A free prize draw will be held where you can win £30 in shopping vouchers! (open to single parents only).
We hope to see you there!!
Ourspace Garden project
A fantastic new communal garden area has recently been completed in Weston super Mare.
70 properties overlook the communal garden, a previously derelict area of 3000sq.m which housed garages, sheds and individual gardens which had become overgrown and neglected. The area was chosen because it is the largest of its kind in the area and was developed as a showcase garden project by NS Housing and the South Ward Neighbourhood Management Partnership.
Consultation for the ‘Ourspace’ garden project began in March 2009 with door to door questionnaires for residents asking what they liked and didn’t like about the area and what they would like to see there.
It was clear from the consultation that the space was:
- a major short cut through the neighbourhood
- not secure and residents had no privacy
- left unused and derelict with nowhere for children to play and blighted by broken glass and dog fouling.
This information from residents formed the basis of the initial plans which were drawn up by White Design Landscape Architects. Residents were invited to a series of events (with free pizzas and fish and chips!) over the winter of 2009/10 to tell us what they thought of the plans.
The initial design was of one large garden – it soon became clear that residents wanted smaller, individual gardens to share with their neighbours. Residents also wanted washing lines and patios, flowers and fruit trees - a garden where they could socialise with their neighbours. The garden needed to be for residents only, so secure gates were installed at each entrance to the garden.
The final garden has 6 individual garden areas for each block, each with a patio, picnic bench, shrubs and lawn area. The communal area which links the gardens together has natural play features like logs, sleepers and colourful mounds, extra seating, fruit trees and a birch grove. Construction of the garden began in 2010 and, although delayed because of the snow over Christmas, was finally completed and open in March 2011. As you can see from the before and after photos the work has been a huge transformation to the area and will improve the quality of life for the residents who live there.
The Garage area before:
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Take your CSCS Health & Safety Test in Weston-super-Mare
westonworks now offers the ConstructionSkills Certification Scheme (CSCS) Health & Safety test in Weston-super-Mare.
As well as the CSCS test, we offer training for the test and free practice.
The CSCS card is now mandatory for all construction site work.
On site testing at westonworks includes:
- CSCS health and safety core test (CSCS Operative)
- SPVR supervisor test
- DEM demolition
- HIW highways
- LAEE lifts and escalators
- JIBP plumbing and gas
- WAH working at heights
- HAPS HVACR domestic heating and plumbing
- DUCT HVACR ducting
- PFW HVACR pipe fitting and welding
- RAAC HVACR refrigeration and air conditioning
- SAF HVACR services and facilities
- MAP managerial and professional
For more information, please contact westonworks on 01934 426 260 or call into the shop at 6a St Andrews Parade, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 3SS or go online at www.westonworks.org.uk
Donkey Sculptures
3 life size steel donkey sculptures have been put out to grass on the corner of Selworthy Road and St Ives Road, as part of the South Ward Neighbourhood Management Partnership’s Art Strategy.
The 3 donkeys have been created by sculptor Sally Matthews. Sally has spent the last 9 months creating the donkeys at her workshop in Wales. Sally spent time in Weston studying the donkeys on Weston super Mare beach for inspiration and used the photographs and drawings from her visits to help bring the donkeys to life.
The donkeys have been installed in this special place on the Bournville as it is where they used to cross on their walk from the beach to their winter pasture. The donkeys are part of the South Ward Art Strategy, commissioned by the South Ward Neighbourhood Management Partnership.
Giant Dandelion
A new sculpture has arrived on the Oldmixon, complementing the newly refurbished shopping parade at Aller Parade.
The sculpture is part of the South Ward Neighbourhood Management Partnership’s Art Strategy, The Rhynes Art Project, which aims to reveal the hidden character of the ward and help create sense of place.
The sculpture is a giant dandelion ball. It consists of a huge steel ball covered in gold leaf and enveloped by a myriad of aeroplane silhouettes such as Westland wyverns and widgeons, which form the ‘seeds’ of the dandelion sculpture. These planes refer to the past importance of the airfield as a dispersal airfield, with planes leaving for many parts of the country, just as dandelion seeds may be dispersed in all directions by the wind.
It has been created by artist Andy Hazell in response to a brief created by lead artist Mike Fletcher along with the local community and the neighbourhood management team.
The new sculpture is nearly 6m high, with a sphere of 1.7m and is located at the edge of Aller Parade next to Winterstoke Road.
Westonworks
westonworks is the name of the new One Stop Skills and Job Shop which is now open at 6a St Andrews Parade in Weston-super-Mare.
The aim is to help local adults to reach their full potential in education, enterprise and employment. If you would like to talk to someone about changing your career or looking for work the why not call in at 6a St Andrews Parade or call on 01934 426260.
Westonworks is open: 10:00am – 4:00pm, Monday – Friday
'Take Part' South West - Active Citizenship Training Project
VANS is delivering this project in North Somerset, providing ‘Active Learning for Active Citizens’ (ALAC) learning opportunities, as part of a regional initiative managed by Exeter CVS and the Community Development Foundation.
Debby Grice, our ‘Take Part’ trainer has been developing and delivering tailored learning for individuals and community groups, in partnership with development workers from the Local Authority and VANS development workers involved in ‘capacity-building’ work with local neighbourhoods and communities of interest.
The ‘Take Part’ agenda is about encouraging Active Citizenship, supporting individuals and groups to get their voice heard and to influence local decisions and work for positive changes in their community.
Workshops delivered have been tailored specifically to participants needs and have been mainly by demand, with one ‘open’ course running. Groups and individuals have requested support around the issue of the confidence to ‘speak up’ on issues, with tailored sessions working on the skills to speak up confidently; participate in meetings (eg partnership boards and local forums); to speak in public; to be assertive about needs in the community; to take on active roles in meetings and have the confidence to chair them. Seven groups also signed up to look at the ‘VOICE’ toolkit developed by the Community Development Foundation – a step-by-step approach to understanding ‘influence’ enabling groups to assess and increase their capacity to influence local decisions.
‘Take Part’ is funded until 31.3.11. Any groups or Local Authority development workers interested in training workshops to support individuals and groups in increasing their ‘active citizenship’ and ‘influencing/ speaking up’ skills are invited to contact Debby in October to discuss any training sessions they would like run before the end of the project. Please use the general VANS email of info@vansmail.org.uk for your initial enquiry.