Bloom budget given £8,000 funding boost

A SPONSORSHIP campaign designed to boost Henley’s entry into next year’s Britain in Bloom competition has raised nearly £8,000 so far.

The total was revealed at an informal meeting of the Henley in Bloom sub-committee on Thursday last week.

Henley last entered the Royal Horticultural Society competition in 2019 and had won gold in each of its last seven entries in the Thames and Chilterns regional competition.

Town clerk Sheridan Jacklin-Edward said: “At the moment, sponsorship is up to £7,750 and there are commitments that will be for three and five years. So, actually the total value so far is around about the £23,000 mark, which is good. We still need more.

“I think it has been relatively difficult because most people’s heads are not in ‘lovely flowers’ or summer mode. They are thinking more about Christmas weather, so we can do another push on that one, probably after Christmas, but we have certainly made a very good start.”

Businesses are also being invited to sponsor different planting schemes around the town and have their company name advertised next to them.

The sub-committee has a projected sponsorship budget of £22,000 for next year. It expects to make £500 from its annual Christmas tree shredding initiative and hopes to make £24,000 from the summer hanging baskets campaign, which is supported by the Henley Standard.

Catherine Notaras, a member of the committee, suggested approaching Great Western Railway for more funding as it already sponsors five planters at Henley station.

She said: “They do offer grants every year and they do have their community grant fund. They are quite keen because they keep emailing Neil Gunnell of Henley Trains and people who are quite influential.”

However, Mayor Rory Hunt said that the rail company may be unwilling to contribute more due to the current political climate.

He said: “GWR might be reluctant, I suspect, because of the shift to GB Rail that has been proposed by the new government and the fact that they may all very swiftly lose their franchises. The incentive to invest at the moment is very low.”

The committee also asked Mr Jacklin-Edward to approve a grant of £300 to Sacred Heart Primary School for its Nature Gardening Club.

Headteacher Rachel Sanders said: “The whole school very much wants to be a bee-friendly school. Behind this urban school, there are some potentially good growing areas.

“The school wants to improve the biodiversity of these areas by using the beds already in situ with good plants for pollinators, adding several bee hotels, supplementing the bird boxes and adding bat boxes.

“We intend, with our band of willing helpers, to remove some of the pervasive plants and begin planting spring bulbs, plant some early flowering plants, primroses, pulmonaria, in the long bed backing on to the west boundary wall.”

Ms Sanders said they would also grow vegetables, add perennials to a narrow bed in its “KS1 area” and plant bulbs and seed in the bank area next to the playground. It also plans to include climbers and other plants for nocturnal insects to feed and add sensory plants to its “reflective” area.