Winners announced for biodiversity competition

A scheme to build a school pond and another to support vulnerable women with horticultural therapy are among the winners of a biodiversity competition.

Southfield School for Girls has been given £1,000 to create a wildlife pond at their school and Ketterin Women's Centre has £400 to create the therapy garden.

Kettering Town Council ran the Love Wildlife Competition to boost biodiversity projects in the town.

A total of £3,000 in grants has been awarded to eight organisations to fund nine different projects:

Southfield School for Girls
£1,000 - Develop a school pond on site

Kettering Women's Centre
£400 - Create a horticultural therapy space, Meadow Rd, Kettering

Isebrook School
£200 - Enhance Woodland and Wetland Ecosystems

Grow Wild
£200 - Install nesting boxes for birds and bat boxes in trees along the Ise and clean up part of the river.

Bishop Stopford School
£200 - Create an outdoor space to promote biodiversity, bring back bees and encourage birds and provide a sensory Garden of Reflection.

Ise Valley Scout Group
£200 - Develop a wildlife garden at the Scout Hut, Grantown Way.

William Street Community Garden
£400 - Develop their existing community garden

Southend Allotment Association
£200 - Develop nesting bird habitats

Southend Allotment Association
£200 - Create a night garden for moths and bats

Cllr Emily Fedorowycz, Kettering Town Council's Climate Change Champion said: "This shows that modest amounts of money can make a big difference, both in engaging local people in a project which has meaning to them, and restoring or creating new habitats for birds, bees, bats and other wildlife. I am looking forward to seeing the finished results and really pleased the Council's Finance and Governance Committee were able to make these grants."

Cllr Mark Rowley, the Finance and Governance Committee chair, said: "The Town Council is committed to encouraging biodiversity in town. These are all sustainable projects and, in effect, demonstration projects for the wider community, and I am hoping we can share the results from all the winners in due course. We will aim to run a similar competition again later in the year."

Dr Andy Fordham at Southfield School for Girls, who submitted the £1000 prize winner for a new pond on school grounds said: "Our project, led by Eco Club students, is to develop a school pond. Our students are following the Eco Schools initiative and devising different environmental projects. The group were successful last year in gaining the Green Flag status for our school. One of the projects that they want to focus on this year is around Biodiversity. A pond would be a great benefit for local wildlife and will increase biodiversity. It will also allow us to study habitats and biodiversity."

Mell Efde, who manages Kettering Women's Centre from their new base at in Meadow Road wants to convert a concrete yard at the back of their premises into a garden where their clients feel safe and where they can grow plants, herbs and vegetables.

Mell said: "We will work with Horticultural Therapists from our Northampton Allotment project, we will use recycled tools and materials and our women clients will see how viable it would be for them to replicate our project at home.
"We can develop new skills to build planters, herb and butterfly gardens, bird boxes and feeders, bee and bug hotels and hedgehog houses, all the while, improving their mental health and wellbeing."