Young people are sprucing-up a run down part of Braunton in a youth community gardening project this week.
Teams from Kingsacre Primary School and Braunton Youth Centre will replace neglected old concrete planters on the village’s main Caen Street car park, with new timber framed ‘mini gardens’.
The scheme is being run by the Museum of British Surfing charity, and has been funded with generous sponsorship from local firm Marsdens Cottage Holidays.
“We’re keen to develop community partnerships that deliver real benefits to where we live and work,” said museum founder Peter Robinson. “This will improve the environment in a high profile area at the heart of Braunton & aims to encourage young people to take pride in their community.”
The Caen Street car park is one of the busiest parts of Braunton, with thousands of locals and visitors passing through every year. The gardening project aims to tidy up a neglected area outside the local youth club.
The planters are being made by Matthew Turner from heavy-duty FSC timber, St John’s Garden Centre, Barnstaple have donated an impressive collection of sustainable, pollinating plants, Trelawney at Ashford the compost and Stuart Holder’s Escallonia Plant Nursery at Chivenor some young palm trees.
The teams will maintain their planters in the months and years ahead in a continuing partnership with Devon Youth Services. It’s hoped to have a prize giving at the end of this year’s summer holidays for the ‘best kept’ and develop further creative projects with the planters.
Braunton Parish Council supports this community-based project and hopes it will set an example of young people, businesses and organisations working together in the village. Last summer the surf museum ran a youth community painting project in partnership with local artist Conor Wilson and Devon Youth Services, with more than 60 volunteers painting new murals at Braunton skate bowl.
The Museum of British Surfing opens to the public on April 6, 2012.
