ICM - Leeds Design Agency

I help to run the Aberford in Bloom Society. This non-profit organisation was set up to make our local village of Aberford, near Leeds, an attractive place for residents and visitors alike. As the treasurer I look after the accounts, raise funds and look at ways of getting sponsorship, as well as designing flower beds, digging, planting and tidying up. Organising the volunteers also takes up a large part of my time. My involvement came about after our local parish council advertised for volunteers. Matt and myself went along to the meeting intending to offer our services for a couple of hours a month. We came away running the whole thing, with Matt as the Chairman.

Aberford in Bloom is a whole year activity as there is always something to be done, whether it is weeding, watering or planting. We are always looking at how we can improve our surroundings and how we can get people involved and raise more funds. Some of our funding comes through grants from the council as well as from local businesses and residents. Our volunteers are very good at spreading the word and have gained donations for the Society as well.

We encourage the locals to get involved as much as possible and we are always grateful for any help – so anyone is welcome, even if they don’t live in Aberford. Just recently we redesigned and replanted two large beds on the village green and my Mum, who lives 15 miles away, came to help us with the planting. Last year she won first prize for Best Small Garden at Dewsbury in Bloom and has also been nominated this year, so I guess this is where I get my green fingers from!

The Society is currently looking at ways of getting our local primary school involved – we hope there may be some budding Alan Titchmarsh’s amongst them. It is a good way of teaching our future generations about gardening and is an excellent way to instil pride in people about where they live and to encourage them to look after it.

Even though the Society is very new we have managed to create some attractive areas in the village this year and the response we have had has been inspiring. It is a great way to meet people and we are often stopped mid-weeding to be told what a good job we are doing. We now know more people in the village and have made some great new friends doing something that we both enjoy.