Planting the Seeds for a Brighter Community

Rochdale Borough Council lent its support to King Street East Residents’ Associations (KSERA) first community planting day on Saturday, May 10.

Despite the rainy weather everyone was in positive spirits for the event, which was a way of bringing the Milkstone and Deeplish commmunity together to do something positive to improve Rainbow Children’s Play Area.

Landscaping was designed and organised by Rochdale Borough Council’s parks and open spaces department, which also arranged for early preparation work to be carried out including the removal of unsightly shrubs that were acting as a litter trap.

Around 25 adults and children joined Rochdale Borough Council’s rangers Bob Bevan and Mike Cummings, police officer Simon Rogers, PCSOs Martin Beever and Madasar Nasir to prepare the ground and plant bulbs in one part of the play area. The police officers also helped with the pruning of the trees and the

Rochdale Environmental Action Group helped pick litter in and around the play area and others who attended included Imam Mufti Zaid, from Central Mosque and ASDA Community Champion Eleanor, who provided complimentary refreshments and helped with the planting.

Mark Widdup, Director of Economy and Environment at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “It was great to see all the community, from children to local residents and the Police to the Imam, getting their hands dirty and making a difference to their local environment. There are lots of community groups volunteering their time to improve their local park or open space and we do our very best to help them all.”

Shahid Mohammed, co-founder of KSERA, said: “I would like to thank all the residents, friends and children that took time out to help us - everyone enjoyed themselves and were keen to offer their support for future projects. Thankfully, the rain held off for most part of the day but no one was particularly bothered when there was the odd shower.

"I am really proud of what we achieved and I am looking forward to the next phase and when the flowers in full bloom – that will make everything worthwhile. Our vision for the area is to be clean, green and safe for local people – I believe that we are setting down new roots, for new beginnings – a fresh start for the area.”