Help Boston garden centre pick next worthy cause

Dobbies wants your help in selecting a good cause to help.

Dobbies, in Wainfleet Road, has made the appeal as part of the chain’s ongoing Helping Your Community Grow initiative.

This sees each store lend a hand to a good cause in their area, helping them with a project that will create or refresh a community space.

For Boston’s branch of the chain, the latest shortlist is:

* Boston West Academy. The school wants to improve its outdoor learning environment and develop areas of its grounds into a natural habitat. Dobbies’ would provide equipment including gloves, trowels, brushes, as well as advice on bee-friendly plants, bug hotels, and bird feeders.

* GPC Specialist Tearoom CIC, in Friskney, a community hub run by adults with learning disabilities. To help keep costs down, the group grows their own fruit and vegetables. Dobbies’ support would help them grow even more produce and plant lavender shrubs to deter bugs from eating the harvest. There are also hopes of building a pergola.

* Seathorne Primary Nursery, Skegness. The nursery has started a simple vegetable garden, producing potatoes, strawberries, and lettuce to engage with its children and teach them about growing their own food.

Dobbies’ support would help the nursery to replace its old and broken planting beds, and introduce more varieties of fruit and vegetables to help create a community garden and a pick-you-own scheme for all local families to enjoy.

Graeme Jenkins, chief executive of Dobbies said: "We were overwhelmed with the response to our Helping Your Community Grow initiative and have seen a significant increase in nominations, with over 800 applications for 2023.

“A huge thank you to everyone who nominated their project for our Dobbies’ Boston store to support. It’s now up to the public to select the winner – our Boston team are very much looking forward to seeing who this will be.”

The voting closes on Tuesday, April 25.

The project that receives the most votes from all Dobbies stores will be the national winner, receiving extra support.

To vote, visit www.dobbies.com/helping-your-community-grow