It scarcely seems possible that Greening Wymondham has reached our 10th anniversary this year. Ten years ago, we had not started work on the Browick Community Orchard or Friarscroft Wood. Ketts Park Wood was a wet path through a gloomy overgrown plantation, and Rothbury Park was just an area of mown grass, often muddy in winter. Now they are transformed. We have distributed hundreds of tree saplings to all Year 6 pupils in the Town’s primary schools, and organised regular litter picks.

We could not have achieved this without support from the Town Council and South Norfolk Council, funding from local businesses and other groups, and of course the work of a host of unpaid volunteers who turn out in all weathers to help improve the appearance of our town and its green spaces.

We are planning to celebrate our anniversary with an event at Rothbury Park and Community Hall on Saturday 19th September from 3pm to dusk. There will be a tour of the Park, refreshments, and entertainment, and everyone is welcome. We will be launching our latest project, the Tree Trail: a tour through the town identifying important trees, with an explanatory leaflet. This follows our regular litter pick on that day, starting at 10 am at the Baptist Church in Queen Street.

Rothbury Park continues to attract new users. Over the summer, the RSPB Wymondham Wildlife Explorers have used the park to research the bugs, birds and plants in the area. The council has also just received the results of a baseline survey of the Park's wild plants: 62 species were identified by Norfolk Wildlife Trust. The section we're hoping to encourage as a wildflower lawn was deemed especially rich in plants, including the noteworthy Burnet Saxifrage. It has been quite a task keeping the new ornamental planting and the trees going during the summer - passersby will be used to seeing Greening Wymondham in the park of an evening getting water to trees and plants. This month the first of our autumn volunteer mornings starts - on Saturday 5th, from 10 to 12am – so please come and help us weed, trim, and - undoubtedly - water! Later on in the year there'll be more planting to add to all the beds.

Friarscroft Wood has also suffered from drought, with its pond down to a few muddy puddles. Springs and a few scrapes have helped us keep the new trees and hedging watered, and we're hoping to build a rainwater catchment system over the winter - though nothing quite so majestic as the one at Browick Orchard. All we need now is rain!