Community garden news

by Rebecca Blackman

The star of the show this month has to be our brand new bee hotel. It was lovingly crafted by one of our gardeners, then some of the children painted it before it was placed in the garden. The bees will emerge very soon and if you listen closely to the cocoons, you can hear them crackling as they’re starting to hatch.

We’ve seen some beautiful and very jumpy frogs over the past couple of weeks and an enormous toad was spotted in a wood pile. A couple of our members got a surprise after lifting up some plastic to reveal several slow worms!

Our mud kitchen is slowly coming together and we now have a wooden unit and a large sink. The next job is to combine the two and start weeding the site.

We welcome new members. If you would like to join our friendly team, please visit the garden on a Thursday afternoon, 2pm, weather permitting. Alternatively see our website for more information: southmoltoncommunitygarden.co.uk

Mayor re-elected for 2nd term

Written by Jacqui Footman, South Molton Mayor

I thank South Molton’s town councillors for their vote of confidence in proposing and re-electing me as Mayor for a further year from May 2024. I am looking forward to working with the new Deputy Mayor, Cllr Wayne Martin.

Over the past year, I have been honoured to support many of the town’s events, associations and businesses, and particularly to work with the Children’s Hospice South West team and Griffiths in welcoming the ‘Santas on a Bike’ tour to South Molton, raising an incredible £3,442 for the charity.

We are blessed with a thriving, award-winning market and during the coming year, I look forward to working with the wonderful town council staff to run a series of themed ‘Mayor’s events’, largely around the market and central area, aimed at bringing us together more as a community - promoting kindness, caring, inclusion, respect, environment, wellbeing and resilience. Together we are stronger.