Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Storrington in Bloom ‘Cleans for the Queen’

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Clean up clean up

On Sunday 10th April twenty five Storrington in Bloom volunteers spent two hours weeding, cleaning and tidying the streets and car parks of Storrington as part of the “Clean for the Queen” campaign.

Thirty five rubbish sacks were filled with litter and weeds. Luckily the weather was kind and everyone had a great time. Coffee and cake was served at 12.00 to thank everyone for their heroic efforts.

There will be another clean up day at the beginning of July to prepare the village for the visit of the South and South-East In Bloom judges. The date will be published on the website and as always everyone is welcome.

Clean up

“Hanging On” film features Storrington converted phone box

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Storrington’s converted ‘phone box features in Hanging On, a short film about the future of the iconic pay telephone kiosk. During 2015 Storrington in Bloom volunteers worked with other local groups to refurbish the kiosk to house a defibrillator.

Amy Sargeant, a student at Queen Mary University of London, made this film as a final year project.  Interviews were carried out in the Vintage Rose Tearoom.

The short film can be viewed here

CCTV footage released of criminal damage in Storrington

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Following the post of 4 October “Vandalism in the High Street”, the police have released CCTV footage of the incident and a request for witnesses to contact them.

Were you in the High street, Storrington at around 4am on Saturday, 4 October? If so we’d like to speak with you and with the two people seen in this CCTV footage after criminal damage was caused in the High Street that morning. A number of plants were pulled from flower beds, a metal bin was thrown around and street furniture was damaged. If you are a witness please email 101@sussex.pnn.police.uk or call 101 quoting reference 0678 of 04/10.

Vandalism in the High Street

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Local residents, out to buy their papers on Sunday morning 4th October, were shocked to see the damage done to the newly planted troughs in Storrington High Street and West Street.

On the previous weekend Storrington Greenfingers, a voluntary organisation, had removed the summer plants and replaced them with a display for the winter season. At around 4am Sunday morning local residents were woken by noise and saw two young men destroying the newly planted troughs. They pulled out plants and threw them in the road. They also were seen kicking and damaging the two bollards at the bottom of Old Mill Drive and damaging the display in Place Villerest around the village sign. A large planter outside a private property in West Street was also broken.

It seems a shame when volunteers from Storrington in Bloom and Greenfingers work so hard to improve the village environment that a few anti-social louts behave in this way. Kind passers-by had picked up plants left in the road and laid them by the planters in the hope that they could be saved, unfortunately this won’t be possible because the roots are destroyed.

Local competition results

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Youth group challenge Front Garden winner Community Area winner Business Window winner Business External winner Allotment winner

At last, the winners of the Storrington local competition are announced. At a well attended presentation of the awards at Squires Garden Centre in Washington, Lady Emma Barnard congratulated all the winners as she presented them with their certificates and plaques.

Jo Newington, coordinator for Storrington in Bloom, announced the local prize winners. The winning entrants were presented with their awards by Lady Emma and a representative from the category sponsors:

Best Front Garden (sponsored by Squires Garden Centre):                  Marilyn Dadds, 9 Bramber Avenue

Best Community Area (sponsored by Chanctonbury Lions):                Hanover Walk

Best Allotment (sponsored by Squires Garden Centre):                        Gill Ions, Plot 23 Amberley Road

Best External Business Display (sponsored by Tribes):                         Wood N Pots N Things

Best Business Window Display (sponsored by Waitrose):                    Oxfam

Youth Group Wheelbarrow (sponsored by Village Day Committee): 1st Sullington Brownies

Children’s Sunflower Challenge:                                                                Polly Summers, 11 ft 5 inches

Lady Emma was very complimentary about the amount of work put in by the volunteers for the town’s entry in South & South East in Bloom as well as the efforts by all of the entrants of the local competition.

Big thanks to all of our competition sponsors and the other major supporters this year including Costa, David Wilson Homes, McCarthy & Stone, The Village Florist and Village Nurseries.

Storrington wins Silver Gilt

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2015 result

Today six representatives from Storrington in Bloom attending the South & South East in Bloom awards ceremony at the Amex Stadium in Brighton. We were delighted with the results for all the Storrington entries:

Storrington (small town)                                    SILVER GILT

St Mary’s Churchyard (churchyard)                SILVER GILT & BEST OVERALL CHURCHYARD

Parham House & Gardens (heritage parks)   GOLD

Churchyard

And in the It’s Your Neighbourhood (community categories):

Sussex Down Care Home                                                  IMPROVING

Bramber Avenue Residents                                              IMPROVING

Friends of Meadowside                                                     DEVELOPING

Brewers Yard                                                                       DEVELOPING

Well done to all of our entrants – the results are fabulous!!

High Street gets a Public Access Defibrillator

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A year ago Storrington in Bloom decided that the sorry-looking telephone kiosk between the Vintage Rose cafe and Mansell McTaggart Estate Agents could do with some refurbishment. BT were no longer maintaining it so we thought it would be an excellent site for a Public Access Defibrillator. With the help of the Storrington & Sullington Community Partnership, who also contributed funds towards the project, and the Community Heartbeat Trust the kiosk was adopted from BT. It was then passed to us to refurbish and arrange the installation of the defibrillator.

The box needed some remedial carpentry work and this was kindly provided by Pete Harman of Wood ‘n’ Pots ‘n’ Things. Then our volunteers set about cleaning, repainting and decorating the kiosk.  A heated cabinet was bought and fitted and the South East Coast Ambulance Service supplied the defibrillator. It will be checked weekly and maintained by Storrington Area Responders Team.

It is now available for anyone to use in an emergency. In the near future the Community Heartbeat Trust will give a short introductory session which anyone interested can attend. Watch out for posters to find out the time and venue.

Thanks to Storrington in Bloom, Storrington now has a very useful new asset which is a credit to the village.

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Kiosk before1
Kiosk-in-progress1

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Judging Day has arrived!

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S20

Today we welcomed Chris Evans (no not the DJ!) and Jean Griffiths to Storrington to judge our entry in the Small Town category of the South & South East in Bloom regional competition.

We met the judges at Foxmead Court and took them on a tour of the Meadow, Rydon School, Melton Drive, Fryern Dell, Bramber Avenue, Millennium Pond, Amberley Road Allotments, Matt’s Meadow and West Street before exiting the minibus and proceeding on foot from Ropemakers Cottages, through the Library car park, past the wildflower strip to the wheelbarrow display at the bus stand before continuing via Old Mill Drive and Square to the newly refurbished defibrillator box. The judges were then shown some of the wonderful business window displays before finishing up with refreshments at The Moon pub.

Thankfully the weather held for us and the judges made some very positive comments. We now have the long wait for the results in September.

Thank you to everyone who supported us with our judges tour.

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1st Sullington Brownies “Grow Up Wild” at Fryern Dell

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Woodland Fun

Storrington Conservation Society helped facilitate an evening of woodland fun for our local Brownie unit to earn the “In the Woods” badge by bark rubbing, measuring tree height, identifying leaves, looking for bugs and tree hugging! All followed by delicious marshmallows toasted on a campfire!

Fryern Dell will be featured in our tour for the South & South East in Bloom judges in July. The site is already used by Storrington First School for their Forest Schools lessons and we are delighted to see it being enjoyed more and more by the young people of Storrington.

Five Year Management Plan For Meadow

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Friends of Meadowside have been working with Horsham District Council on a five year plan for the meadow area in Meadowside. The group have consulted with many interested parties, including Storrington in Bloom, on the future for this site. The first draft management plan is now released for consultation. If you’d like to take a look please contact Rachel on friendsofmeadowside1@hotmail.co.uk

Friends of Meadowside

With thanks to our sponsors

And a BIG thanks to all our volunteers and local businesses without whom none of this would be possible.