Supporting Charities and our Community

Schools in Bloom Competition

The Meadow Croft Schools in Bloom competition began as a way to support schools in outdoor provisions as well as encouraging children to garden at school and at home. It also offers schools the change to use free plants to brighten up any areas they felt like planting, and to help form the basis for school gardening.

Every year, Meadow Croft invites local schools within a 5 mile radius, to enter the Schools in Bloom Competition. Plants are delivered to the participating schools in early April. School then have until the beginning of July to grow the plants and display them in whatever containers, styles or pots they choose, ready to be judged by the Schools in Bloom panel. The winner receives a £100 Meadow Croft voucher to spend on gardening provisions or plants for their school.

The competition, which is in its 10th year, has seen some amazing efforts from the children.

 

We can now release the winners for 2022. 

1st Place - Hilltop Infant School Wickford 

2nd Place - Edward Francis Rayleigh 

3rd Place - St Mary's C of E Woodham Ferrers

If you are a school staff member or volunteer and would like to enter your school into this year’s competition to be in with the chance of winning a £100 Meadow Croft voucher for your school, please contact Ann on events@meadow-croft.co.uk for more information.


 

Local Schools

Each year we set an allocated budget to help local schools with their fundraising. If you are a member of a local schools PTA group, please get in contact because we may be able to help you with your raffle prizes or gardening donations. Please contact Jane on meadowcroftadmin@wdsmith.com for more information.

Charity Donations

Every year for our festivals or events, we try and incorporate a charity to donate to. In 2017, we donated 10% of all Lavender and Lavender food sales during our Lavender Festival to the Lavender Trust, a charity that helps female cancer patients. In 2018, we managed to raise over £830 for the trust.

For the 2016 German Market, we also created a wishing well for Little Haven’s Hospice, all proceeds from the well went to the charity, and hopefully granted some wishes too. In 2020, we were proud to announce that we manage to raise and donate £4733.58 to the Lennox Children’s Cancer Fund.

We also take part in the National Christmas Jumper Day and Meadow Croft donates £5 to Save the Children for each staff member that wears a jumper to work. In 2021, we raised £136.50!

 

2018 Competition

Every year schools within a 5 mile radius of Meadow Croft are invited to take part in the competition.  Seedlings are delivered in April and the schools grow the plants to produce their gardens ready for judging in July.

The schools this year were asked to come up with themed gardens and they did not disappoint!  The judges said ‘It has been a pleasure to see all the gardens.  The children have clearly worked very hard and their efforts could give Chelsea Flower Show a run for their money!’

First place went to Collingwood School for their 'Collingwood Bay' themed garden, complete with beach, boat and sail shelter.  Well done to all the children and their adult helpers for creating literally something out of nothing!

Second place went to Hilltop Infants for their 'Caring and Sharing Garden'. All the children took a plug plant home to look after until they were ready to plant into their container garden and the containers were all distributed to the neighbouring houses to the school.

Third place went to Little Darwin's Nursery.  The children had created a bath-themed garden and it was very well cared for.

This year, the Meadow Croft Young Gardener of the Year Award for outstanding contributions to school gardening went to Imogen S from Rayleigh Primary School. 

The schools that entered this year were:

Little Darwin's Nursery, Hilltop Infant School, Collingwood Primary School, Woodville Primary School, Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Primary School, East Hanningfield Primary School, Riverside Primary School, Rettendon Primary School and Rayleigh Primary School.

If you are a school staff member or volunteer and would like to enter your school into this year’s competition to be in with a chance of winning a £100 Meadow Croft voucher for your school, please contact Jane for more information on 01245 320314.


Charity Donations

Every year for our festivals or events, we try and incorporate a charity to donate to.  In 2017 we donated 10% of all Lavender and Lavender food sales during our Lavender Festival to the Lavender Trust, a charity that helps female cancer patients. This year we managed to raise over £830 for the trust. 

For the 2016 German Market, we also created a wishing well for Little Haven’s Hospice, and all proceeds from the well went to the charity, and hopefully granted some wishes too.  We also take part in the National Christmas Jumper Day and Meadow Croft donates £5 to Save the Children for each staff member that wears a Christmas jumper to work.

 


Supporting Local Youth Football

We are proud sponsors of South Woodham Ferrers United Y U15 Leopards and we support youth football by providing Meadow Bank Park and football pitch for the youth teams, which is based at Meadow Croft. 




 

We're pleased to announce our Music Line-up for this weekends Viola & Pansy Festival!
When visiting our Viola & Pansy Festival this week, check out our Meadow Croft Gardeners' Choice board. ⁠

A few members of staff have chosen their festival favourites! Why not take a look and see if you pick the same? ⁠

#festivalfavourites #meadowcroftgardencentre #violaandpansyfestival #meadowcroftgc
Here are our stallholders for our final Viola & Pansy Festival weekend! ⁠

Come along for:⁠
Check out our stallholders for this weekends Viola & Pansy Festival!

We’re super excited to show you all the new & evolving varieties.

Come along for:
Would you like to win a trolley full of garden goods worth £75? ⁠

Take part in our Viola & Pansy Competition. Visit our Viola & Pansy Festival this week and simply post a photo on social media of you, friends or family using our photo opportunity boards. Make sure you add the hashtag #meadowcroftgc or #violaandpansyfestival. ⁠

Winner will be announced on Monday 18th March. ⁠
Trolley of goods must be collected from the garden centre. ⁠

#competition #meadowcroftgardencentre⁠
⭐️ We're recruiting ⭐️⁠

We are approaching our busiest time of year on our nursery and are looking to fill the following roles: ⁠

SEASONAL VAN DELIVERY DRIVER / NURSERY WORK⁠
£12/hr + O/T⁠

SEASONAL HGV CLASS 2 DELIVERY DRIVER⁠
£14/hr + O/T⁠

To apply please email your contact details along with detail of any previous work experience to: transport@wdsmith.com or phone on 07548 101045 / 01245 320220 ⁠

W.D. Smith & Son is one of the leading growers of container bedding and vegetable plants in the UK. We are a family-run business and have been growing plants for over 80 years. We grow and deliver thousands of plants every year to Garden Centres & horticultural businesses around the South East of England.
Wondering how you can get a FREE hot drink at Meadow Croft Kitchen? ⁠

Take part in our Viola & Pansy Festival voting this week. ⁠
Anyone can take part! ⁠

Simply pick your top 3 varieties by looking at the batch number on each label. ⁠

⭐️ Why is voting important? ⭐️⁠
Each year new and experimental varieties are displayed for the first time. Visitors to the festival play an important part, by voting for their favourite varieties from amongst those displayed. Voting for your favourites will give the plant breeders an idea on what varieties our customers like and dislike. ⁠

So... this means your votes can influence what varieties are sold in garden centres across the UK! ⁠

#violaandpansyfestival #meadowcroftgardencentre
Our Music Line-up for our final weekend of the Viola & Pansy Festival!
Our plants team have chosen Photinia as their Meadow Croft Gardeners' Choice for March.
A refreshing Violet Lemonade especially for our Viola & Pansy Festival

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