Community Matters: Local projects are blossoming

Exciting times for Torre & Upton!

Happy New Year, all. I hope as you read this you will feel the enthusiasm coming across for our lovely Torre and Upton (T&U) areas.

We start this year focused on building out our Crafty Torre Group (a requested group by many of the residents of T&U)…and looking to run it more frequently, maybe three times a month at different venues. If you are interested, please contact us, as we would love for you to join us. And if you are a seasoned crafter, maybe you would like to support the running of the groups along with our lovely Nicola? (Posters and FB notices will be out soon with dates, venues, and times).

Have you heard of 'Friendly benches'? Do you know of or have any of the benches around T&U with a loved one’s name on it? We would love to have three benches that can be highlighted as 'Friendly benches' so that if someone sits on them, they are open to friendly conversations with whomever they choose to sit. The idea is to open up communication channels and reduce isolation for some. Please let me know if you would like to be involved with this or if you know of a bench that we could use.

Another thing that we focused on a bit in 2024 was the Morgan Avenue Memorial Garden—do you know it? Well done if you do, as not many seem to have heard of it or realise its history. It was opened in 1897 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee for Queen Victoria; before this, it was part of the Torbay Nursery site, so it has been a growing space for almost 150 years!

To keep this garden alive, SWISCo has already helped us by planting eight small saplings that will develop into beautiful blossom trees (five apple, two cherry, and one crab apple—all edible varieties), so that in years to come, there will be a beautiful blossom walk that will complement the beauty and energy of the fantastic Cypress tree. This year's focus will be on a herb bed to be planted and maintained by the community. We have some funding for this project, but we need your support!

Another amazing historical site, St Michael's Chapel, will open for the day on Sep 13th as part of Heritage Weekend.

Upton Park will also come more to life this year with an art project to help brighten the walls near the children's play area. More information will be shared once this is a bit further along. It is also hoped that Toby Chant will be closer to opening the old bowling club and bringing a much-needed Community café space with sports for all.

We are also keen to get a cinema club up and running and possibly install some Torre History Boards, so exciting times ahead. However, we can't bring these things to life without your help, so please get in touch and find out what else is planned.

We always need volunteers, whether that be helping run groups, getting projects off the ground, or visiting or calling lonely and/or isolated people. So if you have a spare hour, please do get in touch to talk more about getting involved.

Tracy Pleece, Community Builder for Torre & Upton 07977 187138 tracypleece@torbaycdt.org.uk