In 2018 they had become so neglected that, in our frustration with the RVBC’s prevarications over ownership and responsibility, several members of the Society decided to give them a thorough clean-up.
Since then, we have weeded and cleaned Heild and St Mary’s Wells every year. We hope that others will continue our work on them in future.
The Wells were the starting point, but in the years since 2018 the ambitions of the Cultivating Clitheroe group grew to encompass enhancements throughout the Conservation Area.
Our achievements are recorded in two albums of photographic records:
Grant funding by the East Lancashire Masonic Charities, Clitheroe Town Council, Lancashire County Council and Ribble Valley Borough Council has been gratefully received and wisely spent. The Society has also funded some of our tubs and plants, and hundreds of plants have been donated by members from their own gardens, resulting in the hugely diverse range of perennial plants and shrubs used in our planting schemes.
Although volunteers come and go and the nature of the work is never-ending, our small group still includes several founder members who have proved their worth as ‘hardy perennials’. It is becoming more difficult as the years go by but our collaboration with the RVBC Ground Staff is crucial to our success and we will continue to concentrate on the care and maintenance of all our planters, tubs, and garden locations for as long as we can.
