Stratford Community

Schools Challenge 2025

Broad Street Cygnets Nursery

Welcomed onto site by a ‘scarecrow’ with a pram, trousers in wellies. Drainpipe and bird feeder.  Purples / bees /heather. Tyres as herb growers, fireman’s helmet as a hanging basket.  Bee hotel.  Sunflowers.

 

Stratford Primary School, Broad Street

Photo of collage of screen “riddles”, crafts – bee cans, enthusiastic. Insect hotels out of a range of containers.  Herbs – sweet woodruff.

 

St Andrews School

Lots of ivy / pyracantha / calystegia / hawthorn / shrub and tree habitat.  Mini beast houses.  Potatoes/onions/strawberries. Herbs at entrance.  Recycled wellies and plastic garden pots made into a man.

 

 

Alveston

Wild seed box and series of raised boxes with herbs, wildflowers, sunflowers and vegetables. Large homemade insect hotel.

 

Hampton Lucy

Chickens, large raised beds dedicated to different things.  Veg squares with, corn, cabbage, courgettes, marrow and wild flowers Wonderful area of mature trees and bird hide and some local bats!

 

St Gregory’s

Forest school.  Chickens.  An old lamp / rubber glove, wheelbarrow man, cleverly made.  Excellent range of log piles to provide habitat for a range of insects and coppiced Willow hedge used for a range of activities.  Ilexcrenata, Lonicera nitida = shrubby honeysuckle.  A range of scarecrows made by different age groups spread across the area.

 

Caring Kindergartens

Have the wildflower maze.  A new area of cut branches form an animal habitat.  Concentrated on herb and tomato plants.

 

Holy Trinity

A novel use of large empty food tins held onto the low fence with recycled belts and then planted up.  Using a pipe to grow climbers up.  In the separate “quiet space” a fish pond and a sand area as well as some large courgette plants.

 

Footsteps Nursery

In spite of building work impacting on the garden area there was a big emphasis on planting vegetables.  Growing some courgettes from the seeds from last year’s crop.  Lovely enamel kettle for planting up and inside an old-fashioned wooden wheelbarrow.  Also included a small woodpile for insect habitat.

Friends Of Stratford Station





I have always had an ambition to make our station garden as cared for as the Victorian Station Masters seemed to care for their station gardens in the railways hey-day.

I had thought about our platform so often and spoke to several railway enthusiasts in Stratford, but it never quite happened.

The idea came into focus when Brenda Lawrence, London Midland, came to the Town Council in 2016 to talk about plans to upgrade the station buildings. I was a Town Council Representative on the Stratford-in-Bloom Committee, and they were looking for a community project to support. Hey Presto!

I put out a plea on social media for volunteers for FOSS, Friends of Stratford Station, and 4 residents stepped up and we met to lay plans. Avon Services were signed up straight away and they were magnificent. The guys took on watering the planters throughout the first two Summers even though that meant carrying watering cans over the bridge.

So much to do to get going: -

  • Become an ‘adopter’, which involved registering the group with LM and safety training
  • Join ACoRP – Association of Community Rail Partnerships – the organization for all community groups with railway related schemes.
  • Look for independent sponsorship / funding
  • Warwickshire County Council gave help and advice.

The first practical thing to do was to remove the massive cypress trees from the platform garden. London Midland were just fantastic and sent a team to fell and grub up the overgrown trees, cut up old concrete blocks and lay a weed barrier and re gravel the platform.

Next Blenheim Nurseries provided three planters and planted them up. Rosconn were generous in offering sponsorship and Tesco gave bulbs. We were on our way, and all went well for two years. Then came Covid 19 and everything came to a shuddering standstill. We are just getting started again.

The local Rail Passenger Group, known as the Shakespeare Line Promotion Group then stepped forward which led to its Secretary, Fraser Pithie forming the Friends of the Shakespeare Line Community Station Partnership and working miracles by getting all stations between Stratford and Birmingham adopted by volunteers and sponsorship for the whole route from Earlswood Garden and Landscape Centre who have provided 3 more planters for Stratford upon Avon. Forest of Hearts have come on board with help, peat free compost and homegrown plants, all insect friendly.

None of this could have happened without the huge support from the new franchise, West Midlands through the fantastic Dorridge / Stratford Line Manager Ian Taylor supported Fay Easton Head of Stakeholder & Community for West Midlands Railway.

Our latest effort has been to clear the sand box on platform 2 to make a large tree planter for the cherry tree. Jon Knight, a great new volunteer, brought his axe and mattock and beavered away for several days to slowly chip out a mass of roots from the cypress tree removed from here earlier this year. A truly massive job.

None of this would have happened without the fantastic support and enthusiasm from all concerned with the project. Great hopes and plans for next year.   

Stratford Wild

Stratford Town Council agreed a Climate Emergency Motion last year and set up a group to see what could be done to reduce the carbon footprint and enhance biodiversity of the town.

It is apparent that there are many residents in the area who would like to grow wild flowers, and have an abundance of environmental ideas. There are also community groups that may be a little more ambitious, but are unsure of where to start.

The Town Council therefore thought it would be helpful to set up a group, where people can share their ideas, experiences and offer advice. The group has been set up on WhatsApp and is called Stratford Goes Wild.

Rewilding connects people back with nature. It provides many benefits giving people a sense of time and seasonal change.

If you are interested in joining this group of people with shared interests and can chat, seek advice and share your ideas, plus benefit from others experience, please contact Cohl Warren-Howles at Cohl.Warren-Howles@stratford-tc.gov.uk.

Riverside Project Updates

Read about the project on the Stratford Town Trust website link:

https://www.stratfordriverside.com

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Allotments

There are three main allotment sites in Stratford, at Shottery, Alveston and Tiddington. These plots provide important growing space for residents and contribute to the network of green spaces throughout the town. Prior to scaling back of our local competition due to the pandemic, our judging team visited the allotment sites each summer - something we hope to resume in the future. For more information about Stratford's allotments, visit:

1) Alveston and Tiddington Allotments and Gardens Association website.

2) Church Lane Allotments contact: Town Trust enquiries call 01789 207111 or email: facilities@stratfordtowntrust.co.uk

3) Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council, email charles.wilson@stratford-tc.gov.uk or telephone 01789 26933.