INTERVIEWS and PHOTOS: Residents sow wildflower seeds in Heysham village with help from Eden Project

Wednesday, 31 May 2023 16:40

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

Residents scatter the seeds on a new wildflower bed in Heysham village car park

Beautiful wildflowers will soon bloom in Heysham village after the community came together to scatter seeds - backed by the Eden Project.

A crowd of adults and children gathered on Wednesday afternoon to scatter seeds in a bed at Heysham village car park.

The seed sowing came about through a partnership between Lancaster City Council, the Eden Project National Wildflower Centre and Sony Playstation.

Richard Scott, from the Eden Project's National Wildflower Centre, was there to co-ordinate matters, along with a city council team, and staff from sponsors Sony PlayStation who were visiting Morecambe for the day.

"The idea really is to mark the lead up to the Eden Project (opening in Morecambe)," said Richard (pictured below).

"There will be beautiful flowers, poppies and cornflowers, buttercups and cow parsley, and all the things that are about the richness of the countryside and bringing it closer to people.

"You could do this in a very clinical way. A contractor could come in and just do it. But it wouldn't have the heart and soul attached to it."

LISTEN to our interview with Richard Scott.

Angela Sykes from Heysham village said: "Everything has gone perfectly, a big turnout and lots of children as it's school holidays. A really good effort.

"Just imagine what it's going to look like. It's going to be beautiful. I just hope it's not me who has to water it!"

LISTEN to our interview with Heysham residents

The wildflowers are expected to flower in around eight weeks time.

Wildflower seeds have also been sown on Sunny Slopes in Heysham (see below), at Kingsway in Heysham and near the Midland hotel, as part of the project.

A further wildflower bed was sown on Wednesday at Lancaster University.

Lancaster City Council is working with the Eden Project’s National Wildflower Centre and PlayStation to highlight the wonder of wildflower habitats in Morecambe.

The Eden Project Morecambe is a new attraction planned for the town's central Promenade area with a target opening date of 2026. It's expected to bring huge numbers of visitors to the area, similar to the Eden Project environmental attraction in Cornwall.

Here are more photos from Wednesday's event in Heysham village.