We have a winner!

Particularly delighted to hear from Fran that Acocks Green went up a level in the Heart of England in Bloom competition. Last year, the hard work delivered bronze. This year, the team went one better and brought home a silver award, along with art awards for pupils at Acocks Green School and a special award for Fran for her hard work in energising the volunteers and local services to green up the village.

The judges were especially pleased with the mural, created by a local young artist.

Next year - can we do better?

Green in Bloom

For what it is worth, I've not seen Acocks Green looking better than it did on Tuesday morning in readiness for the Britain in Bloom judges' arrival. I spent an hour with them walking along the length of the Warwick Road, supporting Fran and Ged and explaining what had been done, the plans for the future and the tremendous community support that the In Bloom project has received. My horticultural knowledge is severely limited, so that speciality I left up to others better qualified. We dropped by the orchard on Mallard Close, where they met the young artist who has painted the brilliant mural and chatted to a half dozen other local people who were at the heart of creating our entry. I left them at the junction with Woodcock Lane, as I had another appointment, but I understand that they were impressed with the rest of the tour, including Millennium Green, Arden Road and St Mary's Close.

We spend a lot of time being critical, so I'd really like to pass on my thanks and praise to Fran and Ged for their work in putting it together and leading the project, to the dozens of other people in Arden Road, St Mary's Close and those who came to help from across Acocks Green (and the City). Thanks also need to go to the trustees of Millennium Green, that little oasis of the wild in the suburbs and to the businesses and management of the Business Improvement District for their help. I really must praise the city council people who helped out - Highways, Housing, Fleet and Waste Management and Parks managers and crews really got behind the project and they've all contributed to making it the best ever entry from Acocks Green to this contest, many of them going above and beyond the call of duty to help.

We deserve better than last year's bronze, but whatever the result, the hard work of dozens of people has paid off.

A packed weekend

On the run...

It was a very busy weekend. Saturday brought the excellent Stechford Police Station open day, which gave people a great opportunity to see their police service up close.

On the left, you see a demonstration of public order officers about to detain a violent thug carrying a weapon. Actually, that's Sgt Danny Cooke in heavy protective kit so that the officers involved can safely use the right level of force to detain him. It was also good to have a chat with the Flightpath Protection Team, who keep an eye on a sizeable area of the West Midlands and Warwickshire that falls within the take-off and landing flightpaths of Birmingham Airport. Alongside a range of community groups, we also had attendance from the Royal Signals and Sheldon fire station, who provided a demonstration of how they can swiftly create a Mondeo convertible with only the help of powerful cutting equipment. It was also good to catch up with some colleagues. The left hand picture shows me with Diane Donaldson, the Labour candidate for Stechford and Yardley North in 2014, Cllr Zafar Iqbal, Cllr Jess Phillips (our parliamentary candidate for 2015 for Yardley), Cllr Nawaz Ali, Cllr Yvonne Mosquito (Deputy PCC) and myself. The next shot also includes Cllr Maryam Khan, Police and Crime Commissioner Bob Jones and Cllr Mohammed Aikhlaq. It was also good to catch up with Bob and have a brief chat about policing in Acocks Green and raise a couple of issues from residents - in particular the hardy perennial that is the anti-social use of motorbikes on parks around the ward.

Sunday brought the annual Sheldon Country Park Festival which was blessed with warm weather. Again, a good turnout for this local show with plenty to see and do and the decent weather was welcome!

Acocks Green Labour - down to work!

After that, a quick dash back across to Acocks Green to help out with the cleanup on Millennium Green. Cllr Stacey, Cllr Phillips and Rachel Seabright, our candidate for election in 2014, were already hard at work - collecting rubbish and painting over graffiti on the end wall of the garages. I joined in, with the help of one of my children, in clearing rubbish from the banks of the stream.

This is all in aid of today's visit by the Britain in Bloom judges, who came to visit Pemberley Road last Friday and will be around and about Acocks Green this morning. Thanks must go to Fran and the team for their hard work over the past months in creating the orchard and generally tidying up. I've also got to note the support of the Business Improvement District, our Parks team and the Fleet and Waste Management crew who have supported the work throughout.

Incidentally, Sunday also saw the judging of Birmingham's entry in the Entente Florale, a Europe in Bloom competition, where Birmingham is the sole UK entry this year. Given our outstanding record in horticulture, we should have high hopes of success, so fingers crossed that the eight hour judging period worked for us.

I had to abandon the team early and dash across to the Arden Road residents' association tea party, who had kindly invited Stewart and myself over. As always, it was good to catch up with local residents and talk about local issues. They'd laid on a fine spread, too, with jam produced from berries harvested in the garden of the hall. I couldn't resist buying a jar of Bee 27 honey - produced from a hive in the road.

Digging for victory

Out again in Mallard Close at the site of the new orchard to help Fran and her team of volunteers launch Acocks Green in Bloom 2013. This little patch of wasteland beside some garages has been transformed into a small community garden. Trees have been planted and we were preparing the soil and planting box hedges today. My gardening skills aren't great, but I lent a hand moving the soil to be sifted, laying the gravel and even got to plant some sage and rosemary too. There's plenty more to do and there's a bit more good news too as the Ward Committee, of which I'm chair, is helping out the Acocks Green Village Partnership and paying for some more baskets to make the floral display that much brighter in the Village this summer.

By the way, next Saturday sees the spring clean up of the Millennium Green (off The Avenue) - do come along, bring your wellies and some gloves!

Dig for Acocks Green!

With Ged & Fran from AG in Bloom & Noel from Waste

Planting a fruit tree in the community garden

Last weekend, (windswept and rain-soaked) I joined the volunteers from across Acocks Green to plant trees in the community garden on Mallard Close, just by Holy Souls School. This has been created by a hard-working and dedicated community group who led last year on the Acocks Green in Bloom project and have added this to their portfolio. A small patch of grass on the corner behind a row of shops has been dug over, a small path and flower bed has been created with bricks and gravel and it is going to look great. The day before, I joined a small crew that spent time cleaning up the litter dropped daily on the roads and verges around the Green - ably supported by the local management from the City Council's Fleet and Waste depot on Redfern Road, who haven't forgotten their litter collection skills learnt before they took up managing a vital service.

I'm really proud of what these people do and delighted to be able to lend a hand from time to time. We've got some tremendous community activists in Acocks Green - but there's always room for more. It isn't political - this is about making our area that much better a place to live.

Bronze for Acocks Green in Bloom

I'm really pleased that Acocks Green in Bloom has picked up a bronze award. The BID and the volunteers (including your local councillors) worked really hard on this and to be rewarded this way at the first attempt is a real testament to how hard they worked.

Full marks and onwards towards gold!

Councillor backs cuts to green growth

Cutting back on growth

Actually, taking advantage of the better weather last Sunday to get back into Acocks Green with the rest of the volunteers to tackle the central reservation on the Warwick Road and clear the jungle of growth around the base of the trees - it took about twelve sacks to remove it all. I've also had the grass cut along there this week so it looks far better in advance of the Farmer's Market this weekend, although I quite like the meadow look with the dandelions. At least to judge by my lawn, you'd think so.

Acocks Green in Bloom - in the rain

Not even driving rain stops the workers

Last Sunday, a small group of die hards assembled, despite the celebratory Jubilee Bank Holiday pouring rain, to make a start on the Warwick Road central reservation in advance of the entry for Britain in Bloom and the Farmers' Market next week.

Fancy joining us again at 10am this Sunday? Watch out for the reflective jackets around the Green.