The Dorothy Parkes Centre Community Allotment Plot has been awarded the Best Community Garden of the Year 2023 Award and a prize of £1,000. This is part of The Cultivation Street Awards, set up by TV gardener David Domoney. The Cultivation Street campaign is all about community gardens and what makes them so fantastic. Community gardens come in a myriad of shapes, sizes and styles. They all have a different heart and a unique mission. What each one of them has in common though, is the ability to bring people together using the power of nature to inspire, heal and make people happy.

David Domoney is a presenter on ITV1's Love Your Garden, which is the most-viewed gardening TV programme in Britain today, and is the resident gardener on ITV1's This Morning and a regular contributor and expert on ITV's James Martin's Saturday Morning. David visited our plot, in Bearwood Allotments, Smethwick, and stated “Dorothy Parkes is an inspirational story of how a community has turned an unloved space into a veritable oasis. Despite some fierce competition, they are a worthy winner and it’s fantastic to support them.”

Dorothy Parkes Centre CEO Robert Bruce said: “This is absolutely amazing news and a big boost for our organisation during challenging times. The team are all delighted and the £1,000 will go a long way in helping us bring some of our exciting and ambitious plans to fruition. It should also be a boost for Smethwick and our surrounding areas as we don’t often get too many good news stories like this.”

News of the award was a feature in the Daily Express on Saturday 9^th December. Congratulations go to Paul and Usha who manage and maintain the plot, along with an army of dedicated volunteers, who have clocked up 1,088 hours of volunteering on the plot in 2023. If you would like to volunteer on the plot or visit it, please get in touch via 0121 558 2998 or email [email protected]

Watch David present the award to the team here: