Last year QLocal reader Passionflower took it upon herself to fill the pots along Lord Street with flowers. With generous donations from Sootys Garden Centre in Tarleton the street was transformed.

This year she wants to do the same and is asking for volunteers to help her from today.



Pauline says,

I am starting up volunteer gardening from tomorrow on Lord Street, I am looking for lots of helpers as Lord Street is in desperate need of cutting back and all the beds need weeding and tending.
I wonder if you would be interested in putting out a rallying call for me? The council cut backs have been severe and the parks and gardens team have suffered. We need budding gardeners to come forward and give their time making our town looking great.

This Summer Southport Flower Show has decided to run the competition again encouraging shops, hotels, B&B's and pubs to put out hanging baskets and tubs. This years Flower Show is called Pride and we need to be proud of our town once again and show all the visitors that even though times are hard with cut backs we can still put on a good show of colour. Anyone interested can contact me by phone.

When I planted up Lord Street last year lots of residents stopped and praised me for my efforts some even offered money to buy more plants, I refused their generosity as all the plants were donated by Sootys for free. I started to volunteer in the gardens last September B&Q & Dobbies both got behind me and donated free compost and plants. What I need now is volunteers and lots of them!

Well done Passionflower and good to meet you tonight at the Hoteliers meeting !

Its very commendable what PassionFlower is doing but should nt this be covered by our council tax ........or parking fees........or by the retailers?

Does anyone know if there are any organised dates/times for helping out? And if so, what they are?

If you are interested in volunteering please send me a private message and I will give you my mobile number.

I am hopefully going down to the gardens next Tuesday around lunchtime weather permitting.

You are doing a great job Passionflower but we are still paying the same Council tax while you do the work unpaid. Something wrong here which i suspect will never alter until we have a Southport Town Council again. Come in Mike 1979...

Passionflower, you're wonderful.

We've always paid rates and taxes to local government and national government,that will never change. What has changed is a lack of community spirit and an unwillingness to get involved. Plenty of people moan about how things are and how things look, but how many people are prepared to actually do something? Not most people.

Word without actions to back them up are empty and meaningless.

Passionflower, if I can be there I will be there, it's people like you who are an inspiration to everyone.

Originally Posted by THE COMMANDER

You are doing a great job Passionflower but we are still paying the same Council tax while you do the work unpaid. Something wrong here which i suspect will never alter until we have a Southport Town Council again. Come in Mike 1979...

Why ? You haven't said anything that would make me want to 'come in', not in they way you are thinking anyway.

Good luck to Passionflower is what I say. If only more people had such dedication and willingness this country would be a better place to live.

It's such a shame that Southport finds its self in the hands of a bunch of people in (sefton council) with a let Southport rot agenda. They need showing up for the type of no-marks that they are.

Passionflower, How about joining the............RHS, "it's your neighbourhood project" and get some recognition for the good work you are doing in Southport, you could get a Gold silver or bronze award. just google it, you will get all the info about the project on their.
Were I live we are lucky enough to have chap called Damian Jenkinson he works for the council, he is our Britain in Bloom coordinator and was also the BBc young gardener of the year runner up,
He come and give our "It's your neighbourhood project" group a talk about what needs to be done and how to move the project forward, he is also helping with flowers from the council run nurseries, are no parks in sefton/Bootle having flowers this year? or is it just Southport, I wonder if sefton have someone like Damian Jenkinson who could help you. I hope you get plenty of volenteers to help you. good luck you deserve a big thank for the work you did last summer and the the summer to come.

very commendable but its like putting hanging baskets on the titanic!
the town centre needs shoppers, not flowers, which needs getting the cars back in the centre with thousands of free parking places and removing the devisive wardens before its too late!

Originally Posted by fromafar

It's such a shame that Southport finds its self in the hands of a bunch of people in (sefton council) with a let Southport rot agenda. They need showing up for the type of no-marks that they are.

Passionflower, How about joining the............RHS, "it's your neighbourhood project" and get some recognition for the good work you are doing in Southport, you could get a Gold silver or bronze award. just google it, you will get all the info about the project on their.
Were I live we are lucky enough to have chap called Damian Jenkinson he works for the council, he is our Britain in Bloom coordinator and was also the BBc young gardener of the year runner up,
He come and give our "It's your neighbourhood project" group a talk about what needs to be done and how to move the project forward, he is also helping with flowers from the council run nurseries, are no parks in sefton/Bootle having flowers this year? or is it just Southport, I wonder if sefton have someone like Damian Jenkinson who could help you. I hope you get plenty of volenteers to help you. good luck you deserve a big thank for the work you did last summer and the the summer to come.

I don't know about the rest of Sefton, however Derby Park in Bootle last year did have some bedding plants, as did parks in Southport, and across the rest of borough. The roundabouts in Bootle have been left to the elements and the borders have now seeded over with weeds. So no, it appears that it's not just Southport.

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by torchwood

very commendable but its like putting hanging baskets on the titanic!
the town centre needs shoppers, not flowers, which needs getting the cars back in the centre with thousands of free parking places and removing the divisive wardens before its too late![/QUOTE

]

I agree, opening the town up again to traffic/free parking etc would help, but sad to say I think bad council planning put the nails in the coffin of Southport town centre when they allowed out of town shopping malls and super markets to surround the town.
Southport needs to go back to its upmarket well kept old Victorian grandeur I think theirs a niche in the market for such places. look at places like southwold in Suffolk they have made the pier/the beach / little beach huts back to their victorian well kept best
the sea front and town are also kept in the same vain. Its a scandal that a wealthy town like southport is being let to go to rack and ruin because it has a albatross on its back in the form of a short sighted sefton council, who it seems disaprove of Southport so much they dont seem to be able to stop them selves from trying screw into the ground. If only they had a bit of nouse/intellect/forward thinking to realise that southport is an asset that in the right hands could (as it used to) year on year bring pots of money into Southport, it could do the same for Sefton if ony sefton council would wake up from their socilist slumbers and smell the coffee.

[QUOTE=fromafar;3423812]

]

I agree, opening the town up again to traffic/free parking etc would help, but sad to say I think bad council planning put the nails in the coffin of Southport town centre when they allowed out of town shopping malls and super markets to surround the town.
Southport needs to go back to its upmarket well kept old Victorian grandeur I think theirs a niche in the market for such places. look at places like southwold in Suffolk they have made the pier/the beach / little beach huts back to their victorian well kept best
Ythe sea front and town are also kept in the same vain. Its a scandal that a wealthy town like southport is being let to go to rack and ruin because it has a albatross on its back in the form of a short sighted sefton council, who it seems disaprove of Southport so much they dont seem to be able to stop them selves from trying screw into the ground. If only they had a bit of nouse/intellect/forward thinking to realise that southport is an asset that in the right hands could (as it used to) year on year bring pots of money into sefton.

If only the council would invest millions in a fantastic new library and cultural centre that the town can be proud of. Or perhaps they could refurbish the market hall or improve kings gardens. Maybe they could invest in improved school buildings in our local schools. I mean I was down Stanley rd in Bootle the other day and it's clear the council must be spending fortunes there...

[QUOTE=ecclefechan;3423941]

Originally Posted by fromafar

If only the council would invest millions in a fantastic new library and cultural centre that the town can be proud of. Or perhaps they could refurbish the market hall or improve kings gardens. Maybe they could invest in improved school buildings in our local schools. I mean I was down Stanley rd in Bootle the other day and it's clear the council must be spending fortunes there...

Ha ha

Originally Posted by mike1979

I don't know about the rest of Sefton, however Derby Park in Bootle last year did have some bedding plants, as did parks in Southport, and across the rest of borough. The roundabouts in Bootle have been left to the elements and the borders have now seeded over with weeds. So no, it appears that it's not just Southport.

Its akin to a type social vandalism to deprive people of the beauty of flowers in nice places, to walk/ have a little quite time or just sit etc, the council don't seem to take into account that the mental well being and health as a hole of the people who pay their wages is put at risk, and their whole well being dumbed down, the victorians new how beneficial flower filled parks and the like are to the people. where I live the local council have turned the round-abouts into wild flower areas and I must say they look very nice in the summer.