Hreod Burna Urban Forest has again been recognised by the Royal Horticultural Society and South West in Bloom.
We have been awarded a Certificate of Recognition in 2020, for being an important part of a wider movement to make all our communities stronger, greener, and happier.
In a general letter to all South West in Bloom groups, Kay Clark, RHS Community Development Manager said: “This year an amazing sense of community spirit has enabled people to face the difficulties of this dreadful pandemic. Through Bloom, it’s Your Neighbourhood and other community gardening activities, you have laid the strong foundations that helped make your communities more resilient in these testing times.
“We know that people have felt closer to nature through lockdown and valued access to green space so much more and we have heard that people are valuing your work more than ever before. We have been incredibly moved by your stories of courage, creativity and ingenuity in helping your wider communities through this time and we wanted to recognise how important you all are and how valuable your work is with certificates in 2020.”
Steve Thompson, the Chair of Trustees for HBUF, said “We have been given awards from South West in bloom for several years now. Normally they have gone around with me, but this year they couldn’t because of COVID-19. If they had visited, they would have appreciated the new planting. And I’ll have a word with them about their spelling…”
Since the South West in Bloom judges last visited the forest, our volunteers have planted hundreds more trees and over a thousand new wildflowers. Let’s hope they are suitably impressed when they visit us again next year!