Newent and the Forest of Dean
Fair Shares Participants Help Newent in Bloom
Newent in Bloom hosted a wild flower meadow sowing at Newent Lake on Sunday afternoon.
The event is part of the RHS ‘wild about wildflowers’ national celebration of the Queen’s
Diamond Jubilee, and the first flowers should be coming into bloom in time for Newent’s
Jubilee weekend events in June.
Parents brought a picnic to the lake on a sunny breezy Sunday afternoon and families fed the
ducks with lots of corn (courtesy of Pippins) to keep the ducks away from the wild flower
seeds!
from 16 months up to 10 years. Their parents helped the younger ones to rake in the seeds,
provided partly by Newent in Bloom and partly by donations from Newent people and the
RHS.
The mixture of wild flowers include poppies, cornflowers, ox-eye daisies, foxgloves, cowslips,
bluebells and other spring and summer annuals and perennials. With care, the meadow should
become a feature of Newent Lake for many years to come, and the children will have sown a
lasting legacy of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.
The meadow area was prepared by Newent town council staff, and councillors Simon Barker
and John Celino took part. Volunteers from Fair Shares ran the event alongside Newent in
Bloom.