Oakham in Bloom is asking for members of the local community to support two requests for help.

Firstly, have you got any spare storage space in a garage, watertight shed, easy access loft or similar which you could 'lend' to Oakham in Bloom for a year or so?

We are planning to repeat the very successful Rutland Jigsaw Festival next year and need to store the jigsaws (boxed and made up) that we have left over from the Easter weekend as well as those we will collect during the coming year.

Secondly, are you interested in helping supervise and support young people to get involved with Oakham in Bloom?

Quite often we have requests from schools and community groups - for example the Scouts - for children/young people to undertake some gardening work.

We are keen to promote the educational and psychological benefits of caring for plants and the environment. But work parties can be very busy and there's not a great deal of time for personalised support for young people: also they may need to undertake the work outside the allocated work party schedule.

We'd like to develop a small group of supporters who will take responsibility for organising and overseeing young people's activities, obviously in liaison with Chris and Craig.

Is this is something you would be interested in helping support?

If you would like to get involved in either appeal, please get in touch with Jane Greenhaigh by emailing [email protected].