About us
For over 10 years, Friends of Milton have been raising funds for planting trees in the roadside.
More recently, Friends of Milton have replanted two of the mini roundabouts-turning what was essentially clumps of weeds into flower beds that make it look like the community cares and is proud of its environment. This has been achieved through an agreement with the local council. All plants have been funded through the charity and all the gardening has been undertaken by volunteers.
We have also seed planted wild flowers in green verges. These verges are rarely mowed by the council, and are unkempt for the majority of the year. The planting aim to give the verges an authentic wild look, rather than being perceived as an unloved piece of land, conveying the committee doesn’t care.
Future activities are intended to include celebratory events, that brings the community together, at the beginning and end of key projects. The local school have offered this at no charge, and our aim is that people will bring dishes representing their own story, as we share and learn together, we genuinely get to know each other.
People are telling us that the whole process of planting of the trees, and caring for the trees, knowing they are their responsibility brings people together outside of their properties, and builds stronger communities. As a community that is constantly changing with people coming and going, we need activities, and projects that bring us together.
Main functions
- Building a strong partnership and working relationship with the Council, and particularly the officially with responsibility for relevant policy areas to ensure we are not replacing funding for projects already planned
- To develop a clear understanding of how to optimise limited budgets to make the biggest difference to the lives of the majority of residents
- To build a bigger plan of how to transform the whole area, which can be presented to a variety of funders
- Educating, encouraging and supporting the local population in environmental practice, working alongside statutory and non-statutory agencies.
History
Friends of Milton was formed in 2014. Since that time, we have been raising funds for planting trees in the roadside.
It’s about local people helping plant those trees, local people choosing their locations, local people caring for them as they establish, and potentially decorating them to celebrate their culture and festivals.
We have been doing this for almost ten years, and after some very difficult times when we have been kept apart, the community are keen to see some of their traditions including tree-planting re-establish post-covid.
People
- Philip Andrews, Chair
- Stephen Moreton, Treasurer
- Rachel Andrews, Secretary
- David Wood and David Heron, Trustees
- Cheryl Nevin and Vanessa Longley, Advisors