Embargo until Friday, 13 November 2015
Wildly good result for Ebbw Vale
‘Furnace to Flowers’ wins Grow Wild Award
Furnace to Flowers in Ebbw Vale has been announced as the Grow Wild flagship site for Wales, winning the public vote to receive £120,000 funding. The site will transform parts of the former Ebbw Vale Steelworks site into a space flourishing with wild flowers for both people and wildlife to thrive.
The Furnace to Flowers project will engage communities through sowing and growing nativewild flowers, to transformtheextensive steelworkssite, by creating a corridor of colour from spring to autumn. Sensory gardens, adventure areas and places to simply relax will be created as part of this exiting project. The project aims to boost local pride by providing opportunities for everyone to get involved.
While not only engagingallcommunities within Blaenau Gwent, the project will also showcase the benefits toothercommunities throughout the Welsh valleys.
Veronika Brannovic, project lead at Furnace to Flowers said:“We would like to thank everyone who voted for Furnace to Flowers. Your support will allow us to turn our vision into a reality and provide the benefits we know the project will bring to local people. The site will provide a legacy for those who worked in the Ebbw Vale Steel Works, create a wild flower oasis for those who have lived with the consequences of deindustrialisation; and inspire future generations.
We are really proud to be Grow Wild’s flagship project for Wales, and can’t wait for the project to start making a difference in Ebbw Vale and beyond”.
Supported by the Big Lottery Fund and led by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Grow Wild inspirescommunities, friends, neighbours and individualsacross the UK to come together to transform local spaces, by sowing, growing and enjoying native wild flowers.
In addition to the £120,000 initial funding, the flagship site will also receive £15,000 in 2016 for continued activities with local people; especially focusing on those aged 12 to 25. The site will become the national example for how people and partner organisations can turn spaces into beautiful, inspiring and colourful wildlife havens.
The voting campaign saw a huge 17,521people cast their vote for their favourite shortlisted site. The three projects in the public vote were: ‘Cwmbran’sURBANBuzzz’ in Cwmbran, led by Cwmbran’sUrbanBuzzz Partnership; ‘Discover the Diff’ in Cardiff, led by RSPB Cymru. And Furnace to Flowers in Ebbw Vale, led by Gwent Wildlife Trust. Each project team pulled together their local, regional and national supporters to vote for their site online and by telephone from the 6 October to 1 November 2015.
The two runner-up sites will receive a £4,000 Grow Wild award to run a dynamic local project and continue developing their ideas. Grow Wild will continue to support these sites during 2016 to help towards finding alternative funding.
Grow Wild launched in 2012 to inspire three million people to take direct action in their community for UK native wild flowers.
Furnace to Flowers will run alongside the wining project in Northern Ireland. Both projects follow Grow Wild’s England and Scotland flagship sites, Tale of Two Cities in Manchester and Liverpool, and Water Works in Barrhead. Each site is designed to inspire Grow Wild participants, involve young people and leave a lasting footprint of the programme in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Maria Golightly, Grow Wild Wales Partnership Manager said: “This is a huge achievement for the team behind Furnace to Flowers and the community in Ebbw Vale, and shows what can happen when a community is inspired to transform and make the most of its spaces using wild flowers. Each of our Grow Wild Flagship project applications in Wales demonstrate great passion for their communities, but Furnace to Flowers has captured the hearts and minds of the public to win this national vote and secure the £120,000 Big Lottery funding.”
Sir Adrian Webb, WalesChair of Big Lottery Fund Wales, said: "Grow Wild is all about bringing people together to improve their environment and benefit their communities, and Furnace to Flowers is a perfect example of how this can be achieved. At the Big Lottery Fund we care about improving the places where we live and giving everyone, particularly young people, a say in how their local communities are designed around them. Furnace to Flowers has already begun delivering this mission through the public vote and promises to create a fantastic project that will benefit the community. "
ENDS
For further information contact Deian Creunant on:
01970 636419 / 07855 276740 /
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About Grow Wild: Supported by the Big Lottery Fund and led by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Grow Wild inspires communities, friends, neighbours and individuals across the UK to come together to transform local spaces, by sowing, growing and enjoying native wild flowers.
The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK.They are responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery for good causes and invest over £650 million a year in projects big and small in health, education, environment and charitable purposes. Since June 2004 they have awarded over £8 billionto projects that make a difference to people and communities in need, from early years intervention to commemorative travel funding for World War Two veterans. Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £34 billion has been raised and more than 450,000 grants awarded.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is internationally respected for its outstanding living collection of plants and world-class Herbarium as well as its scientific expertise in plant diversity, conservation and sustainable development. Kew Gardens is also a major international visitor attraction. Its landscaped 132 hectares and RBG Kew’s country estate, Wakehurst Place, attract nearly two million visitors every year. Wakehurst Place is home to Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed bank in the world. RBG Kew and its partners have collected and conserved seed from 10% of the world's wild flowering plant species.