Britain in Bloom

I’d moved from London to Norfolk, had a baby and was working from home with no local friends. In 2019, a volunteer group put a post on Facebook asking for someone to coordinate Wymondham in Bloom, as previous volunteers had stepped down. I agreed to do it, hoping to meet people and get out of the house.

Having attended the Anglia in Bloom launch event alone, I was inspired to supercharge the Bloom movement in my town and so I put an article in the local magazine asking for people to help. A lovely email came in from Paula, who was also new to the town and a keen gardener. She was so eager to help she started speaking to local businesses before I even got back from holiday. To this day she is one of my favourite people in town, someone I confide in and commiserate with.

Diana and Chris joined us after retiring from years of living on a barge in Europe, with Diana now heading up a large group of volunteers who are keen on weeding, planting and pruning.

“As the team grows so do the friendship groups, and I’m so glad that now every time I walk through town, I see people I recognise who stop for a friendly chat.”

The sense of community is blossoming and that’s the power of Bloom.