The Southern Housing Group Greener Living awards winners for 2009 are Sandy Ciccognani and Amanda Coyle, along with their fellow residents from Melton Hall, Isle of Wight.
Sandy and Amanda impressed the judges with their efforts to involve fellow scheme residents in improving their shared gardens. They now have a wormery, water butts, compost and bat bins, an insect box and bike rack, as well as new planting, a herb garden and a willow hut for the children to play in.
Following up an idea from Sandy and Amanda, the children also worked with local craftsman Paul Sivell to design an impressive wooden bench in the shape of a dragon using an old tree (pictured). The winners are now considering projects that would allow them to grow vegetables and they plan to use their £250 winnings towards achieving this.
There were also two worthy runners up of the award.
Sue Griffiths from Collingwood Close in Peacehaven was chosen for her recycling work. She has been collecting and selling unwanted furniture, books and bric-a-brac, and hopes to set up a kitchen composting scheme. Sue has also planted fruit bushes and herbs in the shared gardens, fitted bird and bat boxes, and worked with the children to plant flower boxes. She wins £100 of gardening vouchers to spend on items for the scheme.
Our second runner-up, who also wins £100, is Margaret Samuel from Hindle House in Dalston. She was put forward by her Community Regeneration Officer Tim Lovett, who tells us:
“Margaret is a very positive role model. For a number of years now, she has been using empty garden plots on the edge of the estate to grow her own herbs and vegetables.
“Margaret also volunteered for the Big Tidy Up in October, showing young residents how she worked to build up her vegetable plot, which herbs were which and how they could be used.”
Congratulations to all our winners.