In July 2019 Lucy Piper, Coco Preston-Diggles, Robyn Mellor and I won the Wilder Futures competition. We were given £400 to make our wilder dream a reality and the opportunity to speak at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Wilder strategy launch. 

Our plans were to create a wildflower meadow full of pollinators in a small plot of land near where we live called Frances Annie Place as well as adding a hedgehog home and a bird box. However, in August 2019 we discovered there was asbestos in the ground at Frances Annie Place, meaning we could not disturb the soil, putting a temporary stop to our plans. In January 2020 after months of surveys and inspections by the council we were told it would cost £50,000 to remove the dangerous chemical. This was not achievable with our or the council's budget, so we had to change our plans.

The new plan was to put raised beds in the area and grow wildflowers that only require throwing onto the ground rather than sowing in the soil. On Wednesday 11th March the planters that were kindly made for us by Landport Adventure Playground arrived at Frances Annie Place and filled with two tonnes of clean topsoil.

On Saturday 14th March we made a trip to the Waterfront Garden Centre to buy pollinator-friendly flowers and shrubs in the morning and we spent all afternoon planting them in the raised beds and scattering the wildflower seeds. The next steps are to put the hedgehog home in its place and attach the bird house to its position. We're also hoping to add some moss graffiti! It has been a difficult journey but we are hopeful that our project can thrive despite the many complications leading up to this point. You can follow us on Instagram @frances_annie_place

Eve Mellor