Alton Town Council has won the Hampshire Grassroots Action Award for its Alton In Bloom Community Grow Club.

It is now one of four projects nominated for the CPRE Hampshire Choice Award. The public can vote for their choice of winner at https://www.cprehampshire.org.uk/hampshire-choice-award-cast-your-vote/

The Community Grow Club is a council initiative launched last year which is about more than just gardening - it is about growing together as a community.

It has held a series of multigenerational community sessions and carried out projects enriching the town, environment and wildlife while teaching families to grow their own food and flowers.

New community orchards have been planted with help from residents and children from local schools - the first at the Hawthorns allotment, and the second added to the fruit trees at Barley Fields.

The trees were supplied by the Hampshire Forest Partnership, which said: “The Hampshire Forest Partnership were delighted to support Alton Community Grow Club to create two new community orchards in Alton. We are helping make Hampshire a greener place to live and deliver a legacy in leaves for future generations.”

Grow Club workshops were held in the Public Gardens in the spring, when families were taught to grow plants from seeds, sowing a variety of pollinator-friendly flowers that were then planted out into the town centre planters and flower beds.

Vegetables and fruit were planted in the Community Kitchen Garden beds in the Public Gardens. The children enjoyed watching them grow and eating them when they visited the park.

A council spokesperson said: “We quickly realised that a major barrier to joining in with the Grow Club sessions was that not everyone has access to gardening tools, so Alton Town Council created a Garden and DIY Tool Library where the Grow Clubbers and other community groups can borrow equipment for free.”

The tool library initiative was funded by Hampshire County Council’s Waste Prevention Community Grant Fund. So far it has lent out 130 items and saved residents from spending £4,500 on new ones. Alton town mayor Cllr Annette Eyre said: “We are delighted that the achievements of our volunteers and town council officers have been recognised with the Hampshire Grassroots Action Award for our Alton In Bloom Community Grow Club.

“We hope that their hard work and dedication to making our town a better place for the community, environment and wildlife is also recognised by the people, and ask you all to vote for the Community Grow Club project to win the overall CPRE Hampshire Choice Award.”

The Community Grow Club was partly funded by the government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund with a grant from East Hampshire District Council’s Grow Up! programme.

It supports projects promoting growing, planting and education, and helps residents make new friends while promoting mental and physical well-being.

For more information about the Alton In Bloom Community Grow Club project, to watch a video about it and to vote for it to win the award, visit www.cprehampshire.org.uk/hampshire-choice-award-cast-your-vote