Blooming lovely Festival of Blossom in Plymouth
This spring, communities across Plymouth have been celebrating the beautiful blossom that we have seen throughout the city.
Plymouth City Council’s Green Communities team partnered up with the National Trust’s Cotehele property to offer communities in Devonport, Keyham, and around Central Park many ways to enjoy blossom this spring.
The Green Communities team ran 42 free, blossom inspired events alongside community organisations. From puppet making to professional training, blossom walks to scenic train journeys, there has been something for everyone and a whopping 834 people got involved!
As part of the Festival of Blossom, we commissioned four professional, local artists to create spring inspired artwork with Plymouth communities. The creatives were poet and performer Liv Torc, local Devonport storyteller and puppet maker Samantha Webb, nature artist and illustrator Devon Tipping, and printmaker, Grace Beswick.
Plymouth people created powerful poetry and buzzing bee puppets, along with nature sculptures and blossom prints. Their creative pieces were varied and beautiful and deserved to be appreciated far and wide, so we took the artwork on tour in May. The artwork was on display in Mount Wise Neighbourhood Centre in Devonport, Keyham Green Places, and the Central Park Hub, along with Cotehele House, Antony House, and Saltram House. Many of the people who made the artwork came to see it during the tour, with lots of people saying how proud they felt to see their pieces on display for everyone to enjoy.
Councillor Tom Briars-Delve, Cabinet Member for the Environment and Climate Change, said: “This project was an excellent way of people getting together to create blossom inspired art, for free. To hear that 834 people across 42 sessions were involved is truly impressive.
“All of the artwork was so awe-inspiring we took them on tour, which gave communities the opportunity to see their work in person.
“I want to thank the National Trust for working with us on this project, we are always looking at new ideas to offer communities free, fun things to do.”
Also through the Blossom project, throughout Plymouth and the Tamar Valley, the Green Communities team and Cotehele offered skill sharing workshops, professional training opportunities, and free sustainable travel.
We would like to thank everyone who’s been part of the Blossom project this year, it’s been blooming lovely!
This project has been funded by the National Trust's Festival of Blossom thanks to the players of the People's Postcode Lottery.
