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Nurturing an award-winning community initiative

Photo credit: Shohini Dutta

Hear from community gardening group TGV in Bloom as they explain why their partnership with Preim, as Tadpole Garden Village’s managing agent, has helped their development flourish. 

“We wouldn’t be where we are today, if it hadn’t been for Preim,” starts Pete Welsh when talking about the Tadpole Garden Village (TGV) in Bloom project he began, with friend Stu Olden, after moving to the Swindon development. Since then, TGV in Bloom has been a huge success, recently winning a Silver Gilt award in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom competition. The group was also awarded best landscaping in the South West of England for one of TGV’s green spaces, The Stray, and most innovative garden for the group’s refurbishment of a dementia patient’s garden at the Great Western Hospital.  

We spoke with Pete about the group’s formation and success back in 2020 – when they’d recently won a Silver award in the national gardening competition. Pete explained Preim’s support has been invaluable from day one, even helping with their very first project (sinking no less than 3,000 bulbs in green spaces throughout TGV!) by helping choose the right planting spots. Fast forward to today and TGV in Bloom has flourished, winning more awards and establishing itself as a point of pride, not just for the TGV community but throughout the local area. 

Working together to create a community to be proud of  

In that time, the group’s partnership with Preim has gone from strength-to-strength. Pete explains:  

“Take the best landscaping award we received at the Britain in Bloom awards as an example – The Stray is a beautiful green space that has become iconic for Tadpole Garden Village. At TGV in Bloom we’ve planted bluebells in the woodland areas and plenty of daffodils. With the help of community donations we installed the ‘Thankful Village Memorial’ – designed to recognise those that paid the ultimate sacrifice in conflict, but also public services such as our fantastic NHS.  

“All of this has, of course, been made possible by the fantastic team of TGV in Bloom volunteers – but also by Preim, who have helped us get permissions for planting and erecting the memorial, as well as continuing to maintain the area to keep it looking fantastic year-round.” 

Photo credit: Shohini Dutta

Simon New, Preim’s account manager for TGV, has worked closely with Pete, Stu and the rest of the TGV in Bloom team. He explains: “We’re really proud of the ‘Best Landscaping’ award. The Stray has been under the management of Preim for three years now, with the maintenance taken care of by our contracted landscapers, CutNClear Landscaping.  

“We’ve strived to ensure the communal green spaces at TGV are maintained to a high standard, when under Preim’s management, so the RHS award is also testament to the hard work of Preim and the landscaping team.” 

Other achievements between TGV in Bloom and Preim include the securing of an area of green space for residents of the estate’s flats to maintain and enjoy, and two allotment plots handed over to TGV in Bloom for a greenhouse and communal growing. The group also releases a calendar each year, containing images of the development taken by amateur photographers and voted for by residents, sold to raise funds for charity. Preim donated the funds to get 150 copies of the calendar printed, which raised over £1,000 when sold.  

More to come from TGV’s gardening group  

Already TGV in Bloom grows beyond the development – produce from the community allotment is donated to local soup kitchens and flowers to care homes in the area. Plans are in place for patients of a local mental health unit to attend the gardening club meetings too. In fact, TGV in Bloom’s focus for the coming year is enriching people’s wellbeing and mental health through gardening. Pete explains, 

“Green space access is so important for so many, and gardening can be such a powerful tool for our wellbeing. We hope that TGV in Bloom is a project that brings joy and helps people in our community to nurture their mental health throughout their lives.  

“We’ve got great schemes set up with the schools at TGV, creating wildlife corridors they can explore and helping them to grow vegetables – but importantly letting children realise the wellbeing benefits of gardening from a young age. For older generations, most of TGV in Bloom’s members are aged between 25 and 45. With 40 being the average age of male suicide, we really think ‘green prescribing’ can be so powerful for that age group (and others!).  

“As we embark on another year of gardening together, we’re looking forward to introducing more initiatives to help boost people’s mental health right through the community. And we’re looking forward to working with Preim to help make many of those plans a reality – their support from funding to advice and navigating legal requirements has always been invaluable.” 

Preim is equally excited to see where the journey takes TGV in Bloom: “We pride ourselves in supporting community initiatives at the garden villages we work with,” explains Simon.  

“TGV in Bloom is a fantastic example of how Preim, as managing agent, offers value beyond maintaining green spaces. We always want to engage with residents and help make their vision for their community become a reality – whether that’s in helping navigate legal requirements, coordinating with developers or making sure the resident’s hard work is maintained with great placekeeping in months and years to come.”