Planting has started at Katherine Buchan Meadow in Ealing of 1,000 bulbs that were brought with vouchers won by Olde Hanwell residents from last year's Christmas Illuminations competition.

Ealing residents in Olde Hanwell nabbed second place for their spectacular window displays in the Christmas Illumination Street competition last year, winning £200 worth of British Garden Centres vouchers.

Katherine Buchan Meadow Trust (KBMT) were gifted the vouchers by Anna Elliot following the 2020 advent window competition win.

The Trust decided to buy daffodil and crocus bulbs with the gift so the community could enjoy the outcome of residents' efforts lighting up Old Hanwell.

Trust co-founder Amanda Rutkowski told Nub News: "We wanted to do something with the vouchers so the whole community could benefit, so we went with bulbs that would get children and parents involved and allowed people to take ownership of the area."

The event also involved extending their stag beetle habitat which will be an ongoing project.

"The two days were a great success with over 55 children and adults planting bulbs, digging the trench and burying logs for the stag beetle habitat and making spiders webs and conker spiders to take home," said Amanda.

The children earned stickers working towards their first Meadow Master badge, a scheme to encourage local children to learn about caring for and developing their local wildlife habitat, as well as encouraging their adults to get involved too.

Katherine Buchan Meadow is an 'urban meadow' sitting at the top of Green Lane along Du Burstow Terrace, with a Victorian church building as a back drop and opposite St Marks Primary school.

KBMT have been running since 2016 and the Katherine Buchan Meadow was completed in April 2017.

They received three awards from RHS London in Bloom and the Green Flag Awards this year.

Run by volunteers, the space was created after a successful Spacehive campaign and a bid to Ealing Councils initiative to Transform Your Space.

Look out for upcoming Christmas events on their social media channels, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @katherinebuchanmeadowtrust.

These include two more dates in November to continue extending the stag beetle loggery and another activity in preparation for Lighting up the Meadow 2021, celebrating the run up to Christmas!