Beautify Balham

Striving for a greener, cleaner and more beautiful Balham.

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Balham in Bloom 2024

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For the first time since the creation of the Balham in Bloom competition in June
2020, Beautify Balham hosted a half-day festival featuring remarkable participants:
The Thoughtful Fruiter, Friends of Wandsworth Common, Climate Action Group,
Sprout Up and Jefferson’s Ice-Cream, to name a few. The event was a hive of
activities for all ages and the salsa dancing performed by the talented ‘SASalsa‘
group, and the accomplished musicians of the band ‘Swing Driven Thing‘, made
the whole event truly spectacular.

At 2pm the prizes were distributed to the brilliant winners and runners up for the
Balham in Bloom competition. The categories were:

  • Best residential front garden
  • Best residential communal garden
  • Best window box / hanging basket / terrace
  • Best business frontage

We had some fantastic entries, and our three judges applauded their efforts to green
up Balham.

The Balham in Bloom Festival seeks to highlight the urgent need to green gardens in
our city at a time when urban heat is on the increase and paved gardens exacerbate
run off and flooding. Just adding a few pots on paved areas will help to mitigate
these issues and also add to the dire need for more biodiversity in our streets.

There are plenty of incredibly useful websites and books to help find easy and cheap was to green your garden. Please see a collection of resources below – (so many inspirational stories and tips to make Balham and London greener!):

Websites:

Books:

We would also like to take the opportunity to thank the local businesses who kindly
donated the prizes.

If you want to help Beautify Balham on one of our litter picks or other events, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at hello@beautifybalham.org.

Balham in Bloom 2022

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Beautify Balham held the presentation of prizes for our Balham in Bloom 2022 runners up and winners on Saturday 25th June 2022 on Bedford Hill Place.

Best Business Frontage

We attracted lots of interest from the passers-by who were drawn by our eye-catching gazebo and high-vis vests! Children were interested by our planters, and seemed to get excited about gardening. We even gave them seeds to take the fun back home!

This event was arranged to celebrate the hard work from our Balham in Bloom 2022 entrants – who demonstrated passion and creativity in their award winning gardening spaces!

Best Front Garden Winner
Best Front Garden Runner Up

We again enlisted the help of professional gardeners Cheryle Morison, Wayne Amiel, and Gareth James to help judge who showed the best amateur gardening efforts in the local area.

Best Window Box Winner
Best Communal Garden Winner
Best Window Box Runner Up
Best Communal Garden Runner Up

At 14:30 we started announcing our awards for the Balham in Bloom 2022 competition. Our successful runners up and winners received Balham in Bloom 2022 certificates, and prizes generously donated by local businesses.

The winners all seemed delighted, and it was great seeing gardening enthusiasts and those fond of Balham connect after an amazing day!

Thank you to all logo designers, competition entrants, business partners, ceremony attendees, volunteers and committee members for making Balham in Bloom 2022 such a success!

We hope to see even more support and interest in next year’s Balham in Bloom competition!

If you are interested in participating in a future Balham in Bloom, you can register today!
If you want to help Beautify Balham on one of our litter picks or other events, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at hello@beautifybalham.org.

– The Beautify Balham Team

If you want to write to us and have your own blog post & thoughts placed on this website to help others, please reach out to us via our Contact Us page!

Lockdown Silver Linings (Or Should We Say Green Linings?)

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Balham Street Gardeners

Balham Street Gardeners was started during the first lockdown with the objective to encourage neighbours to work together to transform our street into mini gardens. The large tree pits were identified and everyone took it in turns to plant flowers and water them throughout the Spring and Summer. Social distancing was respected and children got involved throughout the project.

  • Balham Street Gardeners
  • Balham Street Gardeners

We now want to incentivise the local community of Balham to replicate this project and create green corridors to encourage pollinators, increase biodiversity and create stronger communities. 

– Justine McNeil from Balham Street Gardeners

Balham Street Gardeners
Balham Street Gardeners

Frankie The Fox: Mask Making Activity For 3-7 Year Olds to Support Campaign to Protect Environment (Via NappyValleyNet)

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Children aged 3-7 are encouraged to take part in activities at home, to learn all about litter and recycling, as part of the Wandsworth Council’s MyWandsworth campaign.

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In this week’s activity, young people are encouraged to learn all about Frankie the Fox and make their own mask courtesy of Earth Cubs a free educational platform created by a local resident.

Earth Cubs provides a range of activities for 3-year-olds right up to 7-year-old.

Parents and teachers can access free resources, downloadable activities and an app to inspire young people to learn all about our environment.

Local resident and father of two small children, Toby Hunt, setup Earth Cubs as he has long believed there is a need for fun and creative resources which inspire children to learn more about the world they live in and support the UN’s Global Goals.

Toby said: “I wanted to find a way to build excitement around sustainability and the environment. Our beautiful planet has so many incredible environments, all facing different issues. Earth Cubs was created to approach these issues in a positive way, empower children to make a difference and have fun at the same time!”

For children, an interactive mobile game encourages creativity, numeracy and literacy. They get to meet fascinating characters like Antonio the Anteater in the rainforest or Nigel the Nervous Narwhal in the Arctic.

For parents, simple to use home learning packs cover a wide-range of environments, activities and hints on making life more sustainable.

For teachers, Earth Cubs lesson plan resources all fully aligned to EYFS and KS1 curriculum. Their complete lesson plans include: guided teaching steps, activities, outdoor learning ideas – all focused on the environment and sustainability.

Parents and teachers can access free resources, downloadable activities and an app to inspire young people to learn all about our environment.

Councillor Steffi Sutters, Cabinet Member for Community Services and Open Spaces, said:
“Earth Cubs is a great way to bring messages around litter and recycling to a younger audience, inspiring the next generation to learn about and take care of their local area while in lockdown.

“The activities are fun, free and give Wandsworth’s children, parents and teachers one simple way to help spread the word about what kids can do to protect the environment.”

Download Earth Cubs App for free via Apple and Android App stores.

Watch Abigail, age seven, colour-in and make her own mask: https://youtu.be

GO TO: nappyvalleynet.com for the original post.