News and Events

DIY SOS Ottery style

The request

Otter Garden Centres was approached by a member of the Ottery St Mary Youth Football Club, asking if we could help them with urgent repairs to their current viewing lean-to shed. This was constructed of wood and sheet metal cladding which was leaking badly and becoming unfit for purpose.

The football club asked if we could carry out repairs to make this lean-to into a nice area for parents and supporters to watch the children playing matches when the weather is poor.

After looking at the building, it became clear that all efforts to repair it would result in a rather bleak, dark, old shed for parents to stand in.

How we helped

The team discussed ideas on ways to help and agreed to donate and build a brand new modern summer house, with a covered lean-to on the front for parents to stand under to cheer the teams on, along with a small covered patio area at the side where a BBQ could be set up to provide food and drink such as bacon sandwiches, hot dogs, teas and coffees for supporters and players after the matches.

We hope this brings extra fun to matches held at Ottery Football Club and perhaps raise some extra money for the club if they wanted to sell refreshments to visiting parents and teams.

The match

To celebrate the handing over of the new summerhouse to the youth football teams, the club organised a friendly football match with a team from Otter Garden Centres playing five-a-side football against the under 13 Ottery team.

Sabine Taylor said: “The under 13 football team was a delight to play football against and they were very kind to their visiting team. We all came away impressed with the level of football they played and their conduct on the pitch; they showed that you can be good at football and also be a credit to the sport and your community.

“We are pleased to have supported the youth teams and we hope we might be able to arrange an annual match so that we can keep in touch with them and help again in the future. It’s so good for young people to get outside and play sport and Ottery Football club gives the youngsters a great opportunity to do this.”

The end result was a marginal win for the Otter Garden Centres team – but we suspect that the under 13s let us win as a thank you for donating the summerhouse and providing bacon sandwiches after the match.

We have a winner!

Radio Plymouth and Otter Garden Centre in Plymouth have been delighted by the success of this year’s Design a Scarecrow competition – and now we’d like to announce the winner.

We had a brilliant response from primary schools across Plymouth with lots of wonderful entries.

Choosing this year’s top design has been incredibly difficult, but out of the dozens of entries, here are the winner and runners-up!

Winner

Hooe Primary Academy with this wonderfully colourful design by Eleanor.

 

Runner-up

The first runner-up is Plaistow Hill Infant School with a fabulous scarecrow made by the talented Jack.

 

Runner-up

The second runner-up is Holy Cross CP School with this super design by Ursule – giving lots of details about her scarecrow.

 

The winner’s school will receive away two raised beds with compost and plants, so the students can ‘grow their own’ this spring and summer!

The two runners-up have won £50 vouchers for their school to spend at our Plymouth branch.

Well done to you all, and thanks to everyone who entered.

How much fundraising did we do?

Each year, Otter Garden Centres pledges to carry out fundraising for charities. Over the years we have supported a wide range of charities to help them continue with their important work.

During 2017, each branch chose to raise funds for very local charities. Fundraising is coordinated by in-branch teams who work hard to raise as much money as they can during the year.

Here are the charities and the totals raised by each branch at the end of the year:

Ottery St Mary

• Devon Air Ambulance: £7,561.27

Fundraising through the annual Memory Tree, donations from visitors to Santa’s Grotto, staff events including quizzes and a raffle.

Torbay

• Devon Air Ambulance: £4,470.00

Various fundraising events including ‘Guess the Number of Peanuts in the Jar’, an impressive head shave and generous customer donations to a very popular animated reindeer display at Christmas.

Plymouth

• Jeremiah’s Journey: £2,131.91

Jeremiah’s Journey supports children from Plymouth and the immediate surrounding area who have experienced or are anticipating the death of someone special.

Funds raised through a variety of staff events and customer donations.

Wincanton

Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance: £1026.43

Donations to the animated reindeer display at Christmas, staff fundraising events.

Lymington

• Various charities: £400

Charities include Oakhaven Hospice Trust, which provides specialist palliative care and support to those facing life-limiting illness and their loved ones in both a home and hospice setting; Simon Says, which supports Hampshire children and young people up to the age of 18 years who has a significant person in their life who has died or is dying; and Guide Dogs for the Blind:.

Funds raised through sweet sales and collecting tins.

2018

The charities chosen for 2018 are: Ottery St Mary, Alzheimer’s Society; Torbay, Devon Air Ambulance Trust; Plymouth; Dementia Friendly Parishes around Yealm; Wincanton, Yeovil Freewheelers; Lymington will continue fundraising for their local charities.

Top three spot for Carla

If you need to know anything about plants, make sure you seek out Carla Ward-Best at our Ottery St Mary branch.

Earlier this year Carla came third in the South West regional finals of the Young Horticulturalist of the Year – after deciding to enter at the very last minute!

After contacting the organisers, she had a Skype interview where she had to answer 40 questions. Carla got the highest points in her heat, and went on to the Regional Finals, held at Knightshayes.

Carla said the contest was a bit like University Challenge. “Some rounds were first to the buzzer, and others had individual questions. Subjects included pests and diseases and plant identification.”

With stiff competition, Carla was thrilled to be placed third and receive £75. This was an impressive result for her first attempt, as 2,500 young horticulturalists entered the competition this year.

However, she is determined to enter again next year and be in with a chance of winning. The top prize is £2500 travel bursary enabling the winner to go on a plant expedition of their own making.

Carla, who is just 22, is currently taking a Masters in Horticulture at RHS Wiseley, which she visits once a month. She has been working at Otter Garden Centres in Ottery St Mary since March 2011.

About the Young Horticulturalist competition

The first recorded national final was held in 1990 at Writtle College in Essex. The Shropshire Horticultural Society funds much of the competition including the £2,500 travel bursary awarded to the winner each year. The funds come from a trust set up in honour of the first celebrity gardener, Percy Thrower.

Find out more here.