Bloom team to keep up wall’s wonder

THE award winning Wonder Wall at the Crown Oil Arena will be getting a spruce up this weekend, with the Rochdale In Bloom team set to carry out their annual summer planting session.

Today from 9am volunteers will be rolling up their sleeves to plant a mixture of colourful bedding plants, including Non-stop Begonias and Petunias.

Five years on, the impressive Wonder Wall at the back of the Crown Oil Arena’s Sandy Lane end continues to be a community asset, bringing people together.

Landscape gardener and Rochdale In Bloom member, Paul Ellison from Norden, said: “The community look forward to this annual event.

“We get lots of positive comments about how the wall lifts people’s spirits on a busy main road.

“It is fantastic to see all the volunteers come together of all ages.”

Volunteers need to bring suitable clothing and footwear and any gardening tools that they can spare for the day.

Those who wish to participate and have further questions can contact the Rochdale In Bloom Facebook page.

The annual event is sponsored by Crown Oil and Gordon Riggs Garden Centre.

They are helping to make it possible with a donation towards the cost of the plants, soil and materials that are needed.

Rochdale Council are also providing funding for the community initiative.

The Wonder Wall first came to fruition in 2017, when Rochdale in Bloom volunteers, club staff and supporters came together to transform the barren land into an attractive area.

It is dedicated in memory of former Director Paul Hazlehurst, who passed away in 2018.

The club’s floral feature received two accolades at the North West In Bloom Awards in 2017, including top marks for the ‘ It’s Your Neighbourhood Award’.