Footballers have helped to kick-start a York community garden.
A campaign to transform an unused piece of land into a family-friendly community garden off Burton Stone Lane was launched last summer by the Friends of The Lanes Community Garden committee.
The idea behind the project was made possible by the fundraising efforts of the committee who received a boost from broadband provider TalkTalk UFO.
Several York City football players have now volunteered their time, together with staff from TalkTalk UFO, to plant flowerbeds and put up signs ahead of the Bloom! festival later in the year.
Over the next few months, the committee are planning four more planters and 20 breeze blocks which will be planted with herbs, flowers and fruit trees.
Wonderful volunteers
Dominic Berry, Bloom! Festival Producer, Make It York, said: “This is exactly the kind of project we’d love to see more of when Bloom! returns to the city this summer – with the support and efforts of wonderful volunteers and organisations like TalkTalk and York City Football Club coming together to create something truly special in the local community.”
Bloom! will be returning to York this summer between 20 and 28 June – bringing a kaleidoscope of colour for this year’s theme ‘Art in Nature’.
The football club will be supporting Bloom! 2020 by donating a ‘York City FC experience’ as a competition prize.
The club’s commercial manager Chris Pegg said:
We’re delighted to support the inclusive, colourful and city-wide Bloom! festival and have thoroughly enjoyed visiting The Lanes Community Garden – just down the road from Bootham Crescent – to see how Bloom! brings communities together across York.
Helen Fletcher, marketing manager at TalkTalk Ultra Fibre Optic, said: “It was wonderful to be back at The Lanes Community Garden to see the work that has been done so far to transform the area.
“We’re delighted to be supporting this project; it’s such a lovely idea and it will really help to bring the local community together. As we continue to connect the city to full fibre broadband, it’s been a pleasure to support the local communities of York.”
TalkTalk UFO’s full fibre connection is available to residents in Dringhouses, Woodthorpe, Foxwood, Chapelfields, Poppleton, Huntington, New Earswick, Rawcliffe, Clifton, The Groves, Acomb, Holgate, Heworth, Badger Hill and Tadcaster Road.
The connection is sixteen times faster, more stable and reliable than other ‘fibre’ products* and is both accessible and affordable.