Sidmouth pupils plant 1,000 daffs in Byes

SVA aims for a million bulbs in Sid Valley through its Keith Owen Fund

ONE thousand wild daffodils were planted in The Byes, Sidmouth, on Tuesday, by pupils from St Nicholas Junior School.

And, said Sid Vale Association chairman, the Reverend Handel Bennett, whose Keith Owen Fund sponsored the bulbs: “Keith Owen had the ambition that his money should be used to plant a million bulbs in the Sid Valley. Through Sidmouth in Bloom, we made a start with 1,000.”

He watched the planting, by 30 pupils, with SVA president Denzil Taylor, and Bloom president Joy Seward, who handed buckets of bulbs to the children.

She said: “The kids were wonderful. David Baker and his wife and Veronica Argyle and her husband (from the Bloom committee) did the hard work of digging the turf. The children then stamped down the turf again, it was a great success.”

Handel said: “We welcome suggestions of where more bulbs should be planted in future years, and invite applications from the public for grants to benefit the local community.”

See www.sidvaleassociation.org.uk for application forms.

Joy said Sidmouth in Bloom needed to raise a “tremendous amount of cash” to make the town look good in 2011, the committee’s 40th anniversary. She and Veronica will be selling commemorative tea towels during the town’s late night shopping event on Friday, December 3.