News
Pride Hill and Darwin Shopping Centre Sponsorship Trophies (23/08/2009)
Nicholas Pitt, General Manager of the Pride Hill and Darwin Shopping Centres sponsored the trophies for this year’s Shrewsbury Business Chamber Shop Window Competition, organised in association with the Shrewsbury Chronicle and Shop In The Loop.
The theme of the competition was based on a floral aspect and in particular the Shrewsbury Flower Show. Four magnificent trophies (and free tickets to the Shrewsbury Flower Show for the winners and runners up) were presented recently.
The results were:
Class 1: Winner: Write Here of High Street
Joint Runners Up: Lasergraphics of Claremont Hill, Christophers Fine Foods of Mardol
Class 2: Winner: Toot Sweets of Butcher Row
Florists: Winner: - Alysannes
Charity: Winner : Age Concern of
Runner Up: Sue Ryder Care of Roushill
Recent Commission (05/08/2009)
Recent Commission for four presentation trophies are to be used for winners in the shop window display competition run in conjunction with the Shrewsbury Flower Show.
The work was in collaboration with Ed Burke master glassblower E + M Glass and Rogers Masonry Nantwich.
Our New Gallery and Contemporary Crafts (02/06/2009)
We have now moved into the Craft Centre in Whitchurch, Shropshire next to the Whitchurch Heritage Centre where we are not only able to showcase our own work but that of local artists and British deisgner made arts and crafts.
Our Down To Earth Gallery is a unique contemporary craft gallery featuring an eclectic mix of around forty emerging and established designers and makers, with quality and originality guaranteed.
We stock the very best of inspirational British designer made arts and crafts. We are passionate about UK based artists, designers and craftspeople.We stock jewellery, ceramics, glass, textiles, wood, prints, paintings, accessories and stationery. All of the items have been chosen from the cream of British designers, meaning that nothing is mass-produced.
We also support and show many local artists and makers of contemporary arts & crafts. Also designers from “Made in Shropshire” and “Women in Rural Enterprises” (W.I.R.E.), which means supporting local small businesses and in turn our local economy. The work on offer is one of a kind and unique, not on the high street, and made with passion about quality, design, creativity, care and attention to detail. Buying from local UK based designers also reduces our carbon footprint.
The Down To Earth Gallery and Contemporary Crafts is at the Whitchurch Craft Centre next to the Whitchurch Heritage Centre.
ONCE DISCOVERED, NEVER FORGOTTEN
Our Opening Hours are 10AM - 4 PM TUESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY.
4 The Craft Centre, St. Mary's Street, Whitchurch, Shropshire SY13 1QY.
2009 craft & design Selected Awards (04/03/2009)
http://www.craftanddesign.net/awards/
We have been entered into the 2009 craft & design Selected Awards.
The next stage is the public vote - so if you wish to vote for our work visit
www.craftanddesign.net/awards/ You can be entered into the Voter's prizedraw to win a case of wine or a subscription for a year to the Craftsman Magazine. Voting continues through to the end of July.
Llanfyllin Workhouse Exhbition (24/11/2008)
Down To Earth shall be exhibiting three sculptures at the Llanfyllin Workhouse, Llanfyllin, Powys SY22 5LE. (Telephone) 01691 649062
On Thursday 27th November the Workhouse Gallery opens its doors for a special preview of artwork from 6pm The gallery has been kindly supported by the The Bodfach Trust and is a new project at the Llanfyllin Workhouse. There will be a range of products in a wide variety of disciplines and materials from jewellery and textiles to furniture and fine art.
The Llanfyllin Workhouse is a new and exciting venture for entertainment, education, arts and social enterprise in
Grand Opening - Thursday 27th November 6pm - 9pm
Winter Opening Times: Thursday – Sunday 10am – 4pm
Mount Pleasant Gardens Exhibition (07/09/2008)
Down To Earth shall be exhibiting their work at Mount Pleasant Gardens Sculpture Exhibition.
From 3rd September until 28th September, Mount Pleasant Gardens will be holding their first Sculpture Exhibition. Featuring work from British based Artists, the sculptures will be displayed throughout the Gardens.
Andrew Worthington, whose workshop is based at Mount Pleasant Gardens, will be exhibiting his work. Other featured artists include David R. Howorth, Stuart Brett, Audrey Hayes, Alex Relph, Grace Adam and many more...
During the Exhibition, Mount Pleasant Gardens will be open from Wednesday to Sunday. Admission to the Gardens is £3.50.
Set in the glorious heart of the rolling Cheshire Countryside, near to Delamere Forest and only 15 minutes from the centre of Chester, Mount Pleasant Gardens offers the ideal opportunity to meander through some of the finest displays of traditional mixed gardens including ponds with year round interest.
The gardens boast thousands of varieties of plants and are a riot of colour throughout the summer season. The tiered garden cascades down a gently sloping hillside providing outstanding views over the Cheshire Plain.
Visitors can purchase a variety of home-grown plants and shrubs.
Why not visit the gardens and then set off on foot or by car to the nearby Delamere Station Cafe for delicious light refreshments? This lovely countryside walk takes approximately half an hour and is mainly via forest tracks.
Mount Pleasant Gardens are part of the RHS recommended Gardens and RHS Members will receive free entry on production of a valid membership card.
RHS Successes for Council (07/09/2008)
RHS Successes for Council
Vale Royal Borough Council is celebrating receiving two awards at the RHS Tatton Show
19/07/2007
The Council's flowerbed entry gained a gold award and its show garden received the prestigious award of merit.
Cllr Lynn Riley, Lead Councillor for Environmental Management was delighted with this success. She said: “The two entries are amazing and deserve the recognition they have received from the RHS.
"The Council's gardeners and garden designers have done a fabulous job.
"As we all know, the weather last week during the build up time was absolutely horrendous and for something so beautiful and inspiring to be created during that time highlights the level of professionalism, skill and determination that these employees have.
"I can not praise them enough and the RHS certainly believe they are among the best."
Cllr Mark Stocks, Lead Councillor for Environmental Policy supports Cllr Riley's comments and believes that the team, who are responsible for the planting in the borough on roundabouts and town centres are truly deserving of the awards.
The Council's displays at the RHS this year have both focused on the issue of climate change.
The flowerbed called 'Climate Change Roulette' shows two circles. The first circle depicts the colours that support no action being taken to reduce C02emissions and the second circle depicts action to halt the effects of climate change. The flower colours used show the reds of no action and the softer hues of action.
Climate change is also the subject of the Council's show feature garden. This garden has three elements and shows the planting of a garden of today, a garden 2° hotter and a garden 4° hotter.
Cllr Stocks believes that the gardens are a useful way of conveying the importance of everyone thinking carefully about how they use water and energy.
He said: "Climate change is an important issue and the Council has creatively visualised the impact on gardens if people do not begin to reduce their C02emissions and save energy."
He added: "People at the show have responded really well to the messages of the flowerbed and show feature and many have made a commitment to making small changes in their lives to save energy and reduce C02emissions."
All systems go for climate change garden (07/09/2008)
All systems go for climate change garden
Gardeners are working flat out to finish Vale Royal Borough Council’s climate change show feature at RHS Tatton, after torrential downpours threatened to wash the garden way.
16/07/2007
With just days until the opening of one of the nation's favourite garden shows (on Wednesday 18 July) the Council's talented team has worked over the weekend to try and complete the complex build.
Martin Thornhill, one of the show feature’s designers, explained how the worst July weather in years has affected the building timetable. "The gardeners have only had one dry day since they came on site two weeks ago.
"Last year we finished the garden two days before the show opened and worked in blazing sunshine the whole time. Right now we are working in knee high mud, the dry pond bed has flooded and the grass is in danger of floating away. But with everyone else working in the same appalling conditions you have to laugh at the ironic theme of our show feature – the impacts of climate change!"
The garden's other designer, Melanie Seacombe, believes the team’s problem is not just weather related. She explains: "This garden brings to life the findings of an internationally acclaimed scientific study into the effects of climate change.
"This meant we had to design three separate gardens, each illustrating a differing rate of climate change. It has also meant that at 20 metres by 20 metres we are building the largest exhibit in the show.
"I have to say though, despite the trials of the last few weeks we are already getting compliments from other gardening professionals. And if this garden can convince the thousands of visitors to change their lifestyles a little to tackle climate change, then all this hard work has been worthwhile."
Bold and beautiful butterflies flock to RHS Tatton (07/09/2008)
Bold and beautiful butterflies flock to RHS Tatton
Pupils at Hartford Manor Community School have used their creative skills to construct a flock of colourful butterflies to feature in Vale Royal Borough Council’s show garden at RHS Tatton.
12/07/2007
Made of paper, tissue and beads, each miniature artwork will flutter into place amongst the flowers and planting in the garden. Different species will inhabit each of the three sections of the garden, illustrating how climate change will affect the lives these small creatures.
Butterflies were chosen over other wildlife because they respond very quickly to changes in their environment. Also they are so easy to observe that there is years worth of records available for scientists to study.
Recent investigations of these records have shown some species are migrating north as climate change robbed them of their common food sources and habitats. On the plus side many new species, including the Comma, Painted Lady and Speckled Wood, can been seen in our gardens for the first time.
Local environmental educator, Virginia Hunt, was asked by the Council to work with the pupils. She said: “The flocks of butterflies created by the children will bring a riot of colour to the gardens, but also carry with them a serious warning about the imminent dangers from climate change facing our wildlife.
“I hope visitors to the garden learn as much about climate change, and how to tackle it, as the pupils did.”
Class five’s teacher, Natalie Barwise, said: “The children are thrilled they were chosen to make butterflies for the Council’s climate change themed garden.
“They have particularly enjoyed seeing their drawings come to life in such a vibrant way and are excited at the thought of thousands of people viewing their handy work.”
Government Minister sends words of support to Council (07/09/2008)
Government Minister sends words of support to Council
Ian Pearson, Minister for Climate Change, has praised Vale Royal Borough Council for its show feature garden at this year’s Royal Horticultural Show (RHS) at Tatton.
06/07/2007
In a letter sent to the Council’s design team, Mr Pearson said: “Your concept of demonstrating the possible drastic consequences of future climate change by means of futuristic gardens is very interesting.
“I hope your garden will achieve its aim of heightening public awareness around the effects of climate change on our gardens and show what action we can take to adapt our gardens so we do not contribute to future environmental problems.”
The show feature, called Reflections of the Future – the impact of climate change, contains three gardens in one. The individual gardens illustrate:
· The current effects of climate change
· The impact on our gardens if we take enough action now to reduce emissions
· The potential implications for a garden if we take no action and exceed a 2°C temperature increase
The designers took their inspiration for the feature from the stark findings of an internationally acclaimed study by the United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP).
In the ‘UKCIP02’ study, it was scientifically proven that average UK temperatures could rise between 2 and 4°C by 2080. The report predicted the drastic consequences of such climate change, and concluded that the level of temperature change experienced would depend on the amount of harmful greenhouse gases we released into the atmosphere over the next 10 – 20 years.
Martin Thornhill, one of the designers, believes this could be a unique garden at this year’s RHS show. He said: “This is the first time I have ever known a scientific study to be the subject for an RHS garden.
“We have had a few headaches with the design, given the complex nature of the study. But by working with the experts from UKCIP I believe we have created a stunning garden with a strong message. We hope that by giving visitors a glimpse into the future they will begin taking positive action to tackle climate change“.
Climate change garden set to be hot favourite (07/09/2008)
Climate change garden set to be hot favourite
Council on track to star at Tatton's Royal Horticultural Show
06/06/2007
Climate change is the theme for Vale Royal Borough Council's show feature garden at Tatton's Royal Horticultural Show (RHS) this July.
The unique design from last year's RHS Award of Merit winners was revealed for the first time on World Environment Day (5 June).
'Climate change - reflecting on our future' comprises three gardens in one. Each garden illustrates how our actions are causing climate change and demonstrates the potentially devastating effects on a North West garden.
Visitors journey first into a typical garden you would find locally today, complete with traditional planting, water feature and house. Then they move forward in time to 2080, the furthest point in time we currently have climate change predictions for. There they will see the impact temperature increases of 2°c and 4°c could have on their gardens.
Renewable technologies and adaptive planting and landscaping techniques are explored in these gardens. Stark messages about the catastrophic effects of this level of climate change on the developing world are also placed in these gardens to offer a balanced perspective.
Cllr Mark Stocks, Lead Councillor for Environmental Policy, explained why the Council had chosen the hot topic of climate change. He said: "The feature has been created as part of the Council's work to increase public awareness around the need for us to take positive steps to tackle the issue of climate change.
"We hope that by seeing the challenges you will face in your own gardens from global warming, you will consider the wider issues facing mankind from this international threat. Important as our gardens are to us, climate change will deprive us of far greater things if we do not take very real action today to tackle this global warming."
Experts from the United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme, who wrote the influential UKCIP02 report into the effects of climate change in the UK, advised on the garden's design. They will also be joining the design team in the garden throughout the show week to answer questions on climate change.
Vale Royal Borough Council's garden is a unique offering at this year's series of RHS events. Despite many designers examining the issue of adapting gardens to meet the challenges of hotter climates, this is the only one directly showing the effects of climate change.
In another first for the Council, its bedding plant display in the RHSBall Colegrove National Flower Bed Competition shares the same theme as the show feature.
The bedding-plant feature, 'Climate roulette', will use wheels of colour to depict two extremes of climate change. One having cooler colours to illustrate what might happen is measures to deter climate change are adopted, and the other employing hot reds and oranges to depict the alarming changes expected if nothing is done.