ActivLives and the Ipswich Borough Council have together sponsored and created new hanging baskets which have just been installed at this busy, Suffolk station.
Not only will the baskets brighten up the journeys of everyone who passes through the station, but the project has also provided local young people with valuable horticultural experience too. The six hanging baskets were planted by young people with complex barriers to learning, students of Lapwing Suffolk, who attend ActivLives garden projects (known as ActivGardens) to gain skills for work. ActivLives’ volunteers also took part.
The team grew the plants for the baskets at Chantry Walled Garden in Chantry Park, Ipswich. They grew the winter flowering pansies and other seasonal bedding from plug plants and have tended the finished baskets in the glasshouses to bring them into peak condition for Ipswich Rail Station. The project was sponsored by Ipswich Borough Council.
ActivGardens Lead Horticulturist and Trainer Ric Staines said:
“Our students have gained valuable skills relevant to working in the horticultural industry.”
“We were happy to work in partnership with Abellio Greater Anglia and the Borough Council’s Tourist Information Centre, to bring this project to fruition.
“We hope visitors to Ipswich Station will appreciate the efforts we’ve made to brighten up their journeys!”
Alan Trett Abellio Greater Anglia’s Assistant Customer Services Manager said: “We’re really grateful to ActivLives and Ipswich Borough Council for providing the new floral arrangements now on display at the station, which enhance the environment for the benefit of everyone who passes through this key gateway to the town.”
For more information about ActivLives please log on to www. activlives.org.uk
Photo call: A photo call will be held at Ipswich station at 10am on Friday 17 January 2014 with representatives of ActivLives, Ipswich Borough Council and Abellio Greater Anglia. Photographers and journalists are asked to meet in the station ticket hall just before 10am.
Notes to Editors
For further information about this press release, please ring the Abellio Greater Anglia Press Office on +44 (0)1206 363955. For urgent or out-of-office hours calls, please leave a message by ringing +44 (0)7798 857385. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can. All recent press releases can be found on the Abellio Greater Anglia website at: www.greateranglia.co.uk
About ActivLives
ActivLives is a small charity which works with disadvantaged people and communities in areas of high urban deprivation, mainly in Ipswich, Suffolk. It aims to build communities and promote and maintain physical and mental health through projects and activities which offer opportunities for volunteering, training and education.
Two of its flagship projects are The People’s Community Garden and Chantry Walled Garden, together known as ActivGardens.
About Ipswich Tourist Information Centre
Ipswich Tourist Information Centre is managed and operated by Ipswich Borough Council and is situated in St Stephen’s Church. Tourism is worth around £220million per year to the town and the Borough Council is pleased to work with it’s partners in the industry to promote Ipswich as a destination and improve the facilities, cultural offering and the welcome for visitors and locals alike.
About Abellio Greater Anglia
The Abellio Greater Anglia franchise began operating on 5 February 2012. It provides intercity, commuter and rural services throughout the region including the Stansted Express service.
Abellio Greater Anglia is responsible for almost 3,000 employees and operates 1,900 train services per day. It services 167 stations and carries two million passengers a week.
About Abellio
Abellio is an international public transport company which delivers rail and bus services to over one million passengers every day across the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic. In the UK Abellio operates the rail companies Merseyrail*, Northern Rail*, Abellio Greater Anglia and the bus companies Abellio London & Surrey. In mainland Europe, Abellio operates bus and rail contracts in several federal states in Germany through Abellio Deutschland and bus contracts in the Czech Republic through Probo Bus.
*In a 50:50 joint venture with Serco
For more information on Abellio, please visit www.abellio.com