Rochdale community garden group sweep up awards

Petrus Incredible Edible Rochdale (PIER) has been recognised for its work in an award-winning week.

The project is run by homelessness charity Petrus Community, with many service users volunteering with the group.

On Wednesday 31 October, PIER won three Thriving Awards at the regional North West in Bloom Awards for its projects Petrus Incredible Allotment, Petrus Pocket Park and the Belfield Road Apna Ilaaka Partnership Project with Kashmir Youth Project (KYP).

The Petrus Incredible Allotment was recently recognised by the Royal Horticulture Society (RHS), who featured the group’s work around therapeutic horticulture in its quarterly magazine.

The RHS also supported PIER’s partnership work with KYP to transform Belfield Road from a grey, concrete area into a road of colourful floral displays.

Petrus PIER was also part of the wider Rochdale In Bloom efforts which received 17 awards at the North West in Bloom awards on Friday for its work making the town a more beautiful and colourful place to live.

Rachel Bennion, Petrus PIER coordinator, said: “Everyone at PIER is over the moon with the recognition we have received.

“All of our volunteers put their hearts and souls into our displays and projects, so it is great to see them picking up awards for their hard work.

“Being part of Rochdale in Bloom allows us to open up new partnerships with groups across the town, develop new projects and keep Rochdale looking beautiful.”

Petrus PIER is now looking for volunteers to get involved with its application to Tatton Flower Show, which takes place in July 2019.

The group has been invited to apply and, if successful, will have the chance to showcase its work at the highest level. Petrus PIER is currently consulting with service users for design ideas.

• www.petrus.org.uk/pier.php