Make Manchester and Liverpool Grow Wild!
08 Oct 2014
Liverpool and Manchester need your vote as they bid for £120k to Grow Wild and inject colour and nature through wild flower spaces
On Wednesday, 8 October, Liverpool and Manchester will unite to mark their exciting project, Tale of Two Cities, which is bidding for the chance to win £120,000 to Grow Wild!
With voting now open Tale of Two Cities is encouraging both cities to get involved and support their project with votes. The event on 8 October will start in Everton Park, where a combine harvester will be located on the Brow with this year’s seed harvest from Liverpool’s National Wildflower Centre. Landlife, which manages the centre and the bid, harvests wild flower seed each year.
A delegation from Liverpool, including folk singer Ian Prowse, will then board the train at Lime Street Station to Manchester in a journey of sound and colour. Ian will be encouraging passengers to join in song on the train as they ask people to support the bid and vote.
Over in Hulme Park, Manchester, members of the local community and St Wilfred’s RC Primary School will come together to welcome the visitors from Liverpool. They will then participate in a sing-a-long and the children will receive a biodegradable balloon.
Supported by the Big Lottery Fund and led by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Grow Wild inspires communities, friends, neighbours and individuals across the UK to come together to transform local spaces, by sowing, growing and enjoying native wild flowers.
Grow Wild is creating four high profile flagship sites; one in each country, voted for by the public and rolled out between 2014 and 2017. Each receives £120,000 to create a site, which will inspire Grow Wild participants and leave a lasting Grow Wild footprint in England, Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The winning English site will be chosen by the public vote in a national campaign, which launched on 7 October and closes on 4 November 2017. Each receives £120,000 worth of funding to create inspiring wild flower spaces full of colour and wildlife for everyone to enjoy.
Led by Landlife and Manchester City Council, Tale of Two Cities is one of the five shortlisted sites for Grow Wild’s English flagship campaign. Combining two great northern cities, the project seeks to transform prominent spaces into wild flower celebrations to connect their places and tell their stories.
If successful at winning the Grow Wild English flagship, the Manchester sowing will focus on Hulme Park and Alexandra Park as well as Princess Parkway one of the gateways to the city.
In Liverpool, areas of Everton Park will be transformed with stimulating wild flower displays, created over the top of iconic demolished streets. Inspiring arts activities will include the expansion of a stunning meadow by environmental artist Rebecca Chesney.
In Manchester, working with partner The National Trust, wild flower landscapes will be created along the Princess Parkway, which is seen by 100,000 passers-by daily and in at least three primary schools and parks.
Voting
Voting is now open until 4 November 2014. You can cast your vote for Tale of Two Cities as follows:
- Online: Grow Wild UK: Vote now (a view and click mechanism will enable you to vote for ‘A Tale of Two Cities’)
- Tel: 0808 228 7705