Inaugural Falmouth Spring Festival scoops community award Wednesday 26th October 2011

Derelict site revamp at Bell's Court recognised at Cornwall in Bloom Awards

An innovative community focussed project, kick-started as part of the first Falmouth Spring Festival, has scooped a coveted award at the annual Cornwall in Bloom awards gala.

The Guerrilla Gardening Day at Bell's Court in the centre of town, was organised in an effort to spruce up an historic but neglected corner of Falmouth. Over five tonnes of rubbish and foliage including six 30ft Buddleia trees and a number of heavy white goods were cleared off the site by volunteers one sunny Saturday back in March this year. Donated shrubs and flowers were then planted turning the 40ftx25ft site into an amenable space that can be enjoyed by residents and visitors alike. An agreement was then reached between the Falmouth BID and Falmouth Town Council to ensure the ongoing maintenance of the area.

The Falmouth Spring Festival is another project funded and organised by the Falmouth Business Improvement District (BID), who worked with local traders, organisations such as Falmouth Town Council, NMMC, University College Falmouth and Event Cornwall to put together a host of exciting events, activities and community themed initiatives that sought to celebrate Falmouth's parks, gardens and open spaces. The BID responded to town BID levy businesses' suggestions and ideas for an early season event that would not only promote Falmouth beautiful places but help to raise the town's profile further in an effort to attract extra visits and spend. The first Spring Festival in March 2011 did just that, with figures gathered post event suggesting over 4,000 attended the numerous guided walks, talks, Gardeners' Question Time, Rockpooling on Castle Beach, Spring Fashion Show and Discovery Quay Spring Fair events, with several traders reporting an increase in footfall during the week.

Now firmly on the annual Falmouth events calendar, the second Falmouth Spring Festival will take place between 17th-25th March 2012 and a number of new events are planned including a big pavement art event in conjunction with Falmouth Art Gallery and a Zumba Zestifal both taking place on The Moor, the latter aiming to be the largest open air Zumba event seen in Cornwall. More community based schemes will be organised in collaboration with Falmouth schools and UCF students and a number of sites will be tackled by the Guerrilla Gardening crew.

Richard Wilcox, Falmouth BID manager said:

 

"This really is terrific news. When the Falmouth BID launched the Falmouth Spring Festival this year in an effort to raise the profile of Falmouth, celebrate our parks, gardens and open spaces and encourage more visits to our town during the early part of the season, it was always our intention that the festival would have a strong community ethos and feel to it. The Paint the Town Yellow Day was one good example of that and so was the Guerrilla Gardening initiative at Bell's Court. For the efforts of the volunteers who helped transform Bell's Court to be recognised by the Cornwall in Bloom judges in this way is brilliant. And we're not stopping there by the way; we have plans during the 17-25th March 2012 Spring Festival to tackle even larger and more ambitious sites so watch this space!"

Mark Williams, Falmouth Town Council Clerk added:

 

"The Council is really pleased that the project has been recognised for the Cornwall in Bloom award, the community efforts on site were also included in the portfolio that saw Falmouth receive a Gold Award in the recent South West in Bloom Competition. This is exactly what the BID does, it adds value to local services and in partnership with Falmouth Town Council this area has been renovated and will be maintained. I hope many more similar schemes can be developed."