Community Matters: Simple act of sharing sparks enthusiasm for gardening

By Joanna Reynolds, community builder for Paignton town centre and Clifton with Maidenway

My dog Tegen and I normally walk from home in various directions, but recently I treated us to a short car journey, and we enjoyed the glorious lanes around Galmpton.

It was so peaceful. The hedgerows were bursting with bluebells, stitchwort, dandelions and campions, to name just a few - a riot of blue, white, yellow and pink - and I spotted my first blackcap bird and orange tip butterflies of the season.

How fortunate are we to live in this corner of the world where we are free to enjoy the stunning spaces all around us?

Sadly, amid all this beauty, I passed the seemingly inevitable fly-tipping, and no, even if old tyres and paint tins are stacked neatly, this is still unacceptable. Our open spaces are spaces to breathe and should be respected and treasured by everyone.

SWISCo brought me ‘treasure’ today! I had mentioned to my neighbour, Matt, that I would love to share a garden waste bin with somebody locally as I could not justify the expense of having one to myself for the occasional sack of grass cuttings.

To my surprise, Matt was keen, and we agreed to house the bin on my side while he hauls it down and up my 13 steps each fortnight. A bargain at £25 each for the year. It was ordered on Saturday and arrived this morning, 48 hours later!

I am inordinately excited about this and encouraged to do more gardening now that I have somewhere to discard all the cuttings.

What a perfect illustration of how easy it is to ‘be community’? I had considered posting a notice locally, both requiring time and effort, but all it took was a chance remark and everything fell into place.

OK, we cannot expect immediate success all the time but perhaps if we were brave enough to share something with our local community, maybe more pieces of the jigsaw would slot into place.

As community builders, we were recently encouraged to name our ‘Utopian Dream’ for our neighbourhoods.

Mine was a clean town - our stunning town centre buildings scrubbed clean with fresh paintwork, flowers and trees flourishing, a space where litter does not exist.

Yes, a dream, but surely not impossible? It would not even cost a lot, but it would require our communities to take pride in the local environment and refuse to accept anything less. That’s my dream.

Contact Joanna on 07716 074 903 or email joannareynolds@torbaycdt.org.uk