Flora 250 programme launch

After no more than a few months of planning, 17th March saw us launch Flora 250 – a programme of 30 events running from Spring to Autumn here in Wellington. This festival marks the 1776 publication of Withering’s Botany – a ground-breaking work by Wellington’s own William Withering which became the standard text on British botany for almost a century.

The launch took place at Wellington Library on what would have been Withering’s birthday, against a backdrop of a small historical display created by Wellington History Group and an amazing cake made by Jo Jo’s of Wellington Market and decorated by the multi-talented Amanda Goode. We were joined by representatives of Wellington Town Council, Love Wellington and several local groups whose events help to make up the 8 month-long programme. Mayor Reg Snell said a few words of thanks alongside Cllr Emma Holding and me, Rob Francis, from Wellington H2A. Apart from a small (but very welcome) amount of funding from Wellington Town Council and borough councillors for printing and a couple of the activities, we’ve pulled this together with no funding. It tells you something about the can-do attitude of Wellington’s community groups that just a few months after sharing the idea with them, so many have come forward to host their own Flora 250 events – generating a full programme that’s worthy of being called a festival. So we’ve very grateful to everyone who has made this happen.

The programme is a mix of historical talks and botanical walks, arts and craft activities with a floral theme, a film screening and even an 18th Century masquerade ball on Dr and Mrs Withering’s wedding anniversary.

You can download the full list of events (as of 17th March) here. Keep an eye on the Love Wellington website for any additions or amendments over the course of the year.