Partnership meeting

It was nice to have meeting with the Neighbourhood Partnership working with lots of local teams who work and volunteer within health to support our local town. We have looked at things to do with mental health and physical health developing programmes to support our neighbourhood.

We have discussed volunteering and how groups can  be developed and supported to work together.

Congleton InBloom

it’s been a really busy time of year and I have been working hard as a volunteer for Congleton in Bloom. I have done several town tidy ups in the run up to Congleton in Bloom and I’ve done things like collecting litter, cleaning the railings and chopping bushes. I even got my two year-old helper enlisted and taught him how to use a litter picker. We met lots of people in town and promoted Congleton in Bloom.

Bromley Bloomers

 I have been working really hard with the Bromley bloomers. We had several meet ups in the preparation for the In Your neighbourhood entry of Bromley Bloomers.

We have done jobs such as weeding, adding a bird-feeder, watering and rebuilding some of the paths. We have labelled the plants.

We showed the judges around the garden and the Hub. We talked about the community projects that we have been doing and showed them some photographs and videos. We had lots of volunteers turn out for the judging and it was really nice to show the judges our accomplishments. they love the way that we’ve been doing and gave us lots of compliments. It was nice to stay in playgroup, the friends group and some of the other volunteers came along to support us.

On the first judging day, we went to Congleton Park and celebrated with the judges afternoon tea. The Bloomers and Friendly Faces Nursery came together to enjoy a meal with the judges and the in Bloom team and some of the local counsellors. It was nice to see our local MP there and chat to her about some of the issues that I am having problems resolving as she agreed to help me.

We went around the park and had a look and it was very beautiful. The volunteers did our town proud.

We to the poly tunnel where the Friendly Faces Nursery Peter Rabbit garden and Peter Rabbit wheelbarrow was situated. I presented the garden with the nursery children and we sang them a song and show them some of the hardware that we’ve been doing. It was great to present all our artwork and plank growing to the judges with the children

InBloom at Friendly Faces

Friendly Faces Nursery garden also was an In Your Neighbourhood garden at the nursery not only the poly tunnel. The nursery staff had a competition to see who could make the best mini garden and there were lots of different themes with the judges to look at, arts and crafts and games. The Nursery came and sang to the judges and demonstrated all the fruits and vegetables and herbs that the children have been growing.

They showed them what we do as an Eco Nursery working with surfers against sewage and the RHS green flag awards. We talked about how we grow our vegetables and show them on you greenhouse drawers.

The judges were very impressed and enjoyed looking at our garden.

Justice System Community Work

I have been working with Remedy which is an immediate justice system working as part of a team to help provide services and volunteers options. 

The team looked at immediate justice and network with reparation services together gaining knowledge on the work being done and looking how these services can be developed 

I represented the town council and my volunteer groups.  

We have looked at community clean ups and helping offenders to be able to repay the damage  caused to to the community and helping them to do this. 

Town Tidy

it was nice to help out in town at the Congleton in Bloom preparation where we did the big town tidy. I brought my friends child who was too and he had a great time learning how to use the litter pickers. We had a great day and was spoiled by The Prince of Wales pub who gave us a little buffet and something to drink for our troubles which was very kind. We spent some time looking at the rose garden and we even got some blackberries to take home that had been chopped off one of the bushes.

Whilst out and about, we met some pleasant people who gave us some nice compliments about work that we are doing around town.

War Graves Church Service

It was a real privilege to be able to attend a service to celebrate the work that Ken Fieldhouse has being doing to maintain the war graves at St Stephens Church.

He started originally with a team of 8 volunteers and over time the group has diminishing and he was the last person left.

I came together with the mayor, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the church to celebrate how hard he has worked as a volunteer. As a councillor, I’ve been helping him to establish a new team of people to take care of the War graves and have been working with the team to achieve this.

Ken took us on her tour around the graves and it was really interesting to look at the graves and talk about the history. It was a real honour to come to this service and be able to read out a letter from the Commonwealth War Graves team. 

Totally Locally

I have been working as a Town Champion helping the totally locally group to promote Congleton town. We look at different ways that we can support Congleton town and encourage new people to come and visit.

I am a admin on the site and my task is to promote posts and share them, also to take photos of the venues involved in Totally Locally to promote the venues and take photos of events in town.

Hungry children over the holidays

Whilst working on the Bromley farm to over the summer holidays I have been in contact with quite a number of families that are struggling for food and I’ve been working with plus housing and the food banks to get these people some food. I’ve been offering advice and working with the community supermarket and health visitors to try and get some immediate help.

I was very concerned and have raised this the Council to see if there’s something that we can do going forward to help families so they are not struggling in the future. I noticed that some of these families have been using the community garden as a source of food to keep them going through the summer so it was nice to see it being used for the purpose that it was built for.

Meeting attendance

I have attended 93% of my Committee and Working Group meetings in July and August, and 75% of my Council Committees (3 of 4).

.