Despite obvious Covid-19 set-backs, in 2020 Marton Parish Council succeeded in creating living willow sculptures and community edible gardens with grants from Severn Trent and Warwickshire County Council.
These provided the local community with transferable skills for employment, quality volunteering opportunities, fresh community-grown food, a focus for working in the outdoors (with its wellbeing benefits) and a much-needed sense of purpose and positivity during a very difficult year.
The WCC Councillor’s Grant funding was for £1050 and the Parish Council was successful in securing £5597 additional funding from the Severn Trent Community Fund to extend the project’s wildlife improvements and community involvement.
All Marton residents – more than 450 people in about 200 households – were invited to apply for willow sculpture training (three were funded to attend) and to volunteer with planting (52 generously gave many hours). Volunteer numbers were lower than might have been in an ordinary year as we had to manage very small and safely distanced groups and couldn’t hold any open events, but the project still created a much-needed sense of cohesion and activity at an otherwise lonely and anxious time.
During the work, volunteers spoke about how good it felt to ease out of lockdown by helping the community and safely working outdoors with others again. Residents also commented on how uplifting it was to see activity after lockdown had hushed the village.