Planting Day in the Park 2025
Published: 18 June 2025
Pupils from primary schools across Banbury once again took to People’s Park this afternoon to turn the rose garden into a vibrant sea of colour thanks to Planting Day in the Park 2025.
Every year, children from the town’s primary schools are invited to attend a special day of planting flowers and creating ‘centrepieces’ in their own designated flowerbed. There is often a theme selected in advance, giving students an opportunity to work together and plan out their flowerbed arrangement, utilising both strategy and creativity as well as teamwork.
This year, the theme was ‘My Favourite Story’. Children were encouraged to create flowerbed centrepieces based on favourite stories. These included classic children’s tales such as ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’, and ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.
This year, pupils with trowels, forks and dibbers used nearly 9000 plants as they turned their flower beds into colourful scenes that were as imaginative as they were visually impressive. Over 270 students took part in the event, with local radio station Puritan’s Radio providing music and commentary throughout the day.
Planting Day in the Park is organised annually by Banbury Town Council, and encourages young people to develop an interest in nature and horticulture. It serves as an opportunity for children to learn about flowers and their importance within the natural world, as well as how to correctly plant them so that they can thrive. The initiative also teaches valuable skills such as teamwork and organisation. On top of this, it provides them with the opportunity to get out of the classroom for a day and enjoy some fresh air in the tranquil rose garden within People’s Park.
The event also saw schools awarded prizes for ‘Best Flowerbed Arrangement’ and ‘Best Centrepiece’. The awards were handed to winners by Councillor for Ruscote, Rebecca Biegel, who is also Vice-Chairman of the General Services Committee at Banbury Town Council. Receiving the Gold Award for the best flowerbed was St Mary’s with their special tribute to their school with ‘The Story of St Mary’s’. Meanwhile, the top prize for centrepiece design was handed to Hardwick School for their design based on the tales of Dr. Seuss.
The full list of awards was:
Best Planted Bed
- Gold - St. Mary's
- Silver Gilt - Wroxton
- Silver - Bishop Loveday
- Bronze - The Grange
- Highly Commended - William Morris
Best Centrepiece- Gold - Hardwick
- Silver Gilt - St Joseph's
- Silver - Harriers
- Bronze - St Mary's
- Highly Commended - Cherry Fields
Councillor Mark Cherry, who is the Chairman for the General Services Committee who oversee the organisation of this event, said, ‘Planting Day in the Park is always a highlight of the Banbury Town Council Calendar, with the creativity and teamwork shown by each school helping to completely transform the Rose Garden at People’s Park. This year, the children have worked together their favourite stories and fictional characters to life, with each flowerbed boasting its own wonderful design. My congratulations goes out to each pupil for all their hard work, and for once again turning the People’s Park Rose Garden into a vibrant and colourful place for all to enjoy.’
The ‘Planting Day in the Park’ event is one of the many initiatives Banbury Town Council organises within People’s Park, which it cares for along with other town parks. It also cares for Banbury green spaces, cemeteries, allotments, and more.