One year on community orchard flourishes after council investment
12 months after receiving investment, a long forgotten Donnington orchard has been regenerated as a community facility with help from a council-led initiative and a dedicated group of volunteers.
The Liz Clare community Orchard, named after the long standing Donnington ward member of 41 years, was planted by Yugoslavian refugees around the 1940s and recently received funding from Telford & Wrekin Council’s Safer & Stronger Communities project.
Retired teacher and lead volunteer on the project Darran Dorsett has been responsible for clearing away the overgrown orchard to reveal around 60 trees producing around 20 different varieties of apples as well as various pear, damson and cherry trees.
Councillor Paul Watling, Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities (Labour) said: “This orchard is such an oasis - it’s fantastic to see how the Safer & Stronger Communities project has helped to breathe life into it and the community around it.
“It’s a lovely calm space and ideal for connecting with nature or if you want to gain some gardening skills. I give my heartfelt thanks to Darran who has taken this project on with so much dedication and has worked tirelessly over the last 18 months to bring some order to the overgrown orchard and reveal the wonderful apple trees that were planted here so long ago.
“It’s great to see how the project is bringing people together such as the residents from the care home, helping to reduce loneliness and also providing a chance for people to gain new skills, relax in the grounds that have been cared for by Darran and also a place to be creative, learning about gardening, plants and nature.
The Safer & Stronger Communities project is led by Telford and Wrekin Council with support from the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) John Campion and together with West Mercia Police and involvement from the community, the partnership aims to create a borough where people feel safe and where opportunities exist for community groups.
The garden is open to community groups, volunteers, schools and the public and the team are hoping to encourage more people to make use of the free facility.
Around 500 men passed through the camp who were European voluntary workers – a community known as Chetniks whose homes were destroyed during civil war.
Since they could not go back home, they settled to form a large community locally which was known as ‘O Camp’ where many people were employed at the Donnington military base.
The leader of the camp was Captain Miodrag Krsmanovic, who had been captured in the early days of the war and spent a long time in a German prisoner of war camp. He became the link between the British Army who ran the base and the camp inhabitants and helped create the orchard that now produces crops of apples used in an apples festival in the autumn.
For further information, join the Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/donningtoncommunityorchard
