Spalding in Bloom
Although Long Sutton (Silver Gilt Award) was the only South Holland town or village to enter the East Midlands competition in 2025, there seems to be a strengthening feeling that the district ought to be striving to return to its much more active and award-winning days. After all, South Holland has a flourishing horticultural industry.
There’s no single pattern for how In Bloom displays come about. In Bourne the Town Council takes the lead, supported by the Civic Society and volunteers. Long Sutton has a very active, specific, In Bloom Group, as does Deeping St. Nicholas. In all of them volunteers are a vital ingredient. They do rather put Spalding to shame. (Long Sutton in Bloom’s Facebook page shows how community effort achieves results) .
Can you help?
The Spalding area has many people who have worked in the horticultural sector and many flower-growing nurseries. We have the skills and knowledge to have far more impactful floral displays around the town. Can those who have the skills not come together for the benefit of the town, as happens elsewhere? This is therefore a clarion call. Perhaps you have worked in nurseries and are now retired with some spare time, or maybe you are a keen gardener. If you would like to provide practical help in delivering better floral displays in the town, please contact us.
This is not a Spalding & District Civic Society project, but it is one that we support. For 2026, Spalding BID have plans in place to deliver the best floral display the town has seen for many years. However, as well as hanging baskets and planters, there are areas in the town that still show signs of past “in bloom” efforts that could with a little bit of effort from volunteers be tidied up.
For example the bedding area in front of the BT offices on Winsover Road still has a selection of fuchsias which with a little bit of effort could be tidied up to provide some colour throughout the year. The photos below were taken on 27 December 2025.
Not only the Town Centre
Around the town, there are other areas that could be enhanced with trees and planting of bulbs and wild flowers. For example, there is stretch along Park Road near Patriot Close that is simply a large grass area. This could potentially be an area for bulbs and the odd tree.
The newer housing estates also have large areas of grass that could be used for planting that would benefit our insect life and provide food for birds. For example, the large grassed area between Derwent Way and Roeburn Way on the Wygate Estate. Could this be a suitable area?
In addition, the area along Vernatt’s Drain on the Spalding town side has a bare minimum of trees planted by the developer. If trees were planted along this bank in the same way as they have been along the banks of the River Welland and Coronation Channel, in time they would help block the view of traffic on the Western Relief Road when this is opened up.
Free Trees for communities
There are often opportunities for community groups such as Spalding & District Civic Society to secure free trees for planting. The Woodlands Trust are providing such an opportunity at the moment. Whilst permission from landowners would need to be secured before such an offer was taken up, the main requirement would be volunteers to plant them.
Many of those members of Spalding & District Civic Society who planted trees along the banks of the River Welland and Coronation Channel as set out in our history are not as young as they used to be, so it needs a new generation of volunteers to assist with the task. Are you up for it?
Please contact our Chair if you are interested in being part of a new tree-planting project in the Spalding area.
