Thatcham residents invited to plant flowers of recovery
Thatcham Town Council project asking to make flowers from plastic found at home
THATCHAM residents are invited to contribute to a public display as the town looks to grow back stronger after the third lockdown.
Flowers of Recovery is a new community installation from the town council to mark the easing out of lockdown and businesses reopening.
Families and community organisations are encouraged to make their own spring flowers – symbols of renewal and hope – from plastic found at home and plant them in Broadway Green to create a blanket of colour between today (Thursday) and May 3.
The project is designed to be eco-friendly, with the flowers to be re-purposed. Free garden canes to make the stalk from can be picked up from Thatcham Broadway Co-op, Newbury Building Society, High Street, Thatcham, or Waitrose, Thatcham.
Thatcham Park and Parsons Down schools, Swings & Smiles, Thatcham Family Hub, U3A, 2nd Thatcham Scouts, Thatcham Preschool and Hackspace are all taking part.
At a meeting last week, mayor Mike Cole said: “The timing is geared towards the reopening of the High Street, so the idea is we will hopefully have some flowers by then and give some joint publicity to the High Street reopening for business and the amazing range of independent shops we have.”
Events manager John Sackett said people would be encouraged to pick up what they had made. Any flowers left would be replanted in the town council garden.
Mr Cole added that the council would recycle what it could. The town council advised to only paint the outside of the flowers and not use embellishments, such as glitter.
The flower can then be re-purposed into an eco-friendly feeder.
Instructions and a video tutorial can be found on Thatcham Town Council’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
Families can also track down the Easter Bunny’s woodland co-workers with a new activity.
Thatcham Town Council has teamed up with High Street Safari again to create a free, interactive story-trail designed to encourage children to walk, get engaged and have fun.
Mr Finniebaker’s Easter Factory Trail, runs until April 18, around Thatcham town centre, with 10 woodland Easter factory characters.
It is free for families and groups to take part and they win a personalised, digital ‘selfie storybook’ at the end, plus the option to enter the national competition to win a Nintendo Switch.
The trail works by utilising contactless QR codes, without the need for families to download or sign up.
With safety in mind, there is no need to go inside the venues and this year Thatcham will have three clues hidden outside, one of them very near the Flowers of Recovery installation that residents can also take part in.
When families scan each character’s unique QR code, they’ll learn their names and what their job is in the factory. Younger children will enjoy spotting the colourful characters in shop windows and those older and grown-ups, will engage by hearing the stories.
To find out more about the trail, visit www.easterfactorytrail.com or follow Thatcham Town Council on Facebook.