Today, we're diving into the heart and soul of Shepperton with Vivienne Leighton from the Shepperton Village Conservation Group. This episode is all about community spirit and making our village shine. Vivienne shares how their mission is not just about pretty flowers, it's about keeping Shepperton vibrant and supporting our local shops, which really is the lifeblood of the community. We chat about their projects, like the new Hügel Kultur bed, and how a small group of dedicated volunteers has transformed neglected corners into beautiful spaces that everyone can enjoy. Plus, we get the scoop on their exciting plans for a big community work day on July 4th, where you can roll up your sleeves and help out! So, if you’ve ever strolled through our village and thought it looked lovely, listen in to find out how you can join the fun and make a difference.
It means the world to me. It's so rewarding that you're doing something that people really like and value. It's got a purpose.
And of course our mission was to make the village nice, keep the village nice, to support the shops. And that's the other thing.
I mean, I know we all shop online, but if we didn't have Shepperton village shops, there wouldn't be a Shepperton in the same way at all.
Gareth Davies:
That's Vivienne Leighton of the Shepperton Village Conservation Group. And if you've ever walked through the village centre and thought it looked particularly lovely, this is why.
Welcome to the Sheppertonian.
I'm Gareth and this is the podcast bringing you stories, voices and events from in and around Shepperton.
Before we get into it, a thank you to the business partners and business members who make production possible through the Sheppertonian Business Club, the Ferry Coffee Shop, purveyors of fine coffee, tea and snacks. Meon Media, Small business support based here in Shepperton, offering flexible support to keep things running smoothly in your business. The Sound Boutique: thoughtful audio for every story.
And our business members, Island Motors: Shepperton-based, family run MOT servicing and repairs; and LuvBiltong: proper South African biltong made locally.
On the 3rd of June, we're hosting the Sheppertonian Live, our first live recorded event.
We have the very lovely Dik Gregory, chair of the Shepperton Village Fair Committee. That's happening soon. And Shepperton Studios. Farah Charles and Dan Burton.
Farrah is the General manager of the studios and Dan is the senior Community outreach and Education manager. So along with Dik Gregory, it should be a very interesting evening with a very reasonably priced bar.
Tickets for the live event are in the show Notes. Today, the Shepperton Village Conservation Group.
I met Vivienne at the village hall, standing next to their newest project, a Hügel Kultur bed they just finished building. We recorded outside in the sunshine and she told me the whole story. The group has been going for 15 years, but it didn't start with a grand plan.
It started with a corner that needed attention.
Vivienne Leighton:
Basically.:
So we got people together locally, so us councillors and sort of leading people in the community who knew about what they like here and everything, and we advised on that and there was a consultant came in and he suggested majoring on what we already had, making sure the trees lived and were cared for and sort of emphasised even more that it was a green corridor. So we introduced other stuff.
Gareth Davies:
That green corridor runs through the heart of the village. And once they'd started, the next opportunity wasn't far away.
Vivienne Leighton:
Down at the war memorial on the corner opposite the park, there was dead and dying trees and it was all brambles and everything. And the head of Civic Pride for the borough at that time said, vivian, why don't you do something about this corner? And I said, oh, all right, then.
So we got together and obviously we had help and everything. So the trees were felled and then there was a group of.
A small group from, you know, Rotary and tree wardens and all those sorts of people who care about this sort of thing. And we sort of thought, well, we clear this corner, perhaps we could do something with it. And it grew from there.
So what we made there eventually became a pocket park.
Gareth Davies:
At the same time, the second challenge arrived. The council was stepping back from water the flower beds along the high street.
Vivienne Leighton:
We thought we'd take that over because we didn't want to lose all the flower beds in the High street and it was horrendously expensive to water them. So we had to form ourselves to manage that. So we set ourselves off that we had.
Some people said they'd like to do it and we're now well organised, where the flower beds are adopted by one of our members and then they help each other out if they need to, but they are looked after 52 weeks of the year, you know, watered, weeded, etc. And that's a big commitment and people absolutely love it.
Gareth Davies:
The dinghy, which sits at the entrance to the pocket park, planted up with flowers, has become one of the most recognised things in Shepperton. Vivienne has complicated feelings about that.
Vivienne Leighton:
When we've entered competitions like Spelthorne In Bloom or South & South East In Bloom or RHS It's Your Neighbourhood. It's always the dinghy that they focused on over the years.
And I used to get really cross because the work behind that goes on to make that little path park is a lot of work, you know, so.
Gareth Davies:
But anyway, the dinghy is now tended by the chair of the Allotments association. And he's brought a new approach that's changing how the whole group thinks he does it differently.
Vivienne Leighton:
He doesn't buy plants, he grows everything from seed, etc. So we've got a really good partnership with him and he's teaching us how to do things differently so that we can be even more sustainable.
Because obviously the cost of plants can mount up.
Gareth Davies:
Standing next to us as we recorded was the group's newest project, a Hugel Kultur bed, built just days earlier during the Rotary showcase at the village hall. I asked Vivienne what it actually is.
Vivienne Leighton:
One of our members is a landscape gardener and he said this is a really good way of having a bed that is really good for the environment ecologically wise. It's good for insects, it's good for the soil, it's good for the plants and at the same time you're composting down dead wood.
So the whole thing is, you know, it's a win, win all round. And so somehow we got permission from the council to dig this here in public grounds.
Gareth Davies:
The timing of the build was deliberate and it brought the wider community together around it.
Vivienne Leighton:
The local Shepperton Sunbury Rotary had a showcase for charities in the village hall. They let us time this to be the external activity to help draw people in and it worked really well. There were 23, I think it was charities in there.
Hundreds of people visited. It's always popular. It's only done every other year because you know, it isn't right always to do things every year.
And the idea is that people want to talk to people about what they do, give them a bit more time to understand.
It's lovely because you have this real pulling together of all these people, you know, in the community who do all this self voluntary work and there you all are, you know, not competing with each other but you're, you know, talking and we always get a.
We had the MP, he threw the first log in there for us and the deputy Lord Lieutenant would come and other people who've got the influence or the purse strings for the local area are invited so that it's a learning and communicating exercise all round.
Gareth Davies:
Behind all of this is a small but dedicated group of people. I asked Vivienne who they are and what brings them to this kind of work.
Vivienne Leighton:
There's a few of us that have been there from the beginning, which is now 15 years. They are people from perhaps local because there's different jobs.
So you know, might be someone from the residents association was our treasurer for years and this sort of thing. So. But it's people from other gardening or nature type organisations locally.
We've always had people from both Rotary clubs locally and we also have people who love to garden and so they do it as well. And we just come together. We've got our committee's maximum of 10 allowed and we've got a couple of co opted people as well. For special reasons.
And then we have a more relaxed, wider pool of volunteers who we just call on for work mornings. And they'd be on a Saturday or Sunday, normally in the morning, 10 till 12.30 or something like that.
Gareth Davies:
Two years ago, the group took on something new, absorbing a community allotment that had lost its original purpose.
Vivienne Leighton:
There was a community allotment at the allotments and unfortunately, the purpose for which it had been set up, which was for people who to be recommended by the health service to come along outside with their carer, that didn't ever work. So it needed taking over so that the finances, the accounts and the, you know, all the stuff you have to do these days to exist.
So we offered to do that. So we've absorbed them. They meet on a Wednesday morning and they're a mixture of people.
I mean, people move here, perhaps and get to know people, people downsize and, you know, keen gardeners, but they no longer have a garden so they can go there, that sort of thing. So it's really good. It provides a real social and, you know, healthy activity, which all of this is. I mean, it's all to do with that.
And then at the end, the end result is something that the villagers here love people. The local community absolutely love this. We get such support.
Gareth Davies:
The group enters competitions regularly. Lordsbridge Pond, the High street, the Pocket Park. And this year the ambition has been raised.
Vivienne Leighton:
We've entered the pocket park for quite a long time. We did enter Lordsbridge Pond one year. It's a school land near the war memorial again. It's got a 300-year-old dew pond there, so we look after that.
We vary what we enter according to our capacity and, you know, what we think we can do. When we entered South & Southeast In Bloom, I think we entered the High street, so that's different because you have to enter all the beds.
Gareth Davies:
This year, a new catego has changed the target entirely.
Vivienne Leighton:
Last year, Spelthorne introduced a new category Most Attractive Local Centre. And that's what we want to do. So we're having a real push at the moment to try and bring in schools, other organisations.
Our local councillors are helping us. The library said they'd help advertise stuff and we want to have a big work morning on the 4th of July. That's a Saturday. And we're trying to get.
Which is what we did:
Gareth Davies:
And the message gets out through more than just social media.
Vivienne Leighton:
We're very lucky that the local Village Matters magazine. Monica is one of our sponsors and she's very, very helpful because she's a very good conduit to get the message out for people who don't look at Facebook, you know, that sort of thing.
So we're having a hanging basket initiative this year as well, and the residents association funds certain number these days, so by coming together, we hope to have a really good show in the high streets all the way along.
Gareth Davies:
If someone listening wants to be a part of this, the barrier is deliberately low.
Vivienne Leighton:
You would join our list and you would get an email from Jane telling you when we're next having a work morning, it's just turn up. She tells you if you need to bring anything, like your own gloves or stuff like that, and people natter and garden. I think that's what it is.
And then sometimes it's heavier work and we have got two or three strong men and so we try and get them along when we want to do work at Lordsbridge Pond, because that's heavier work. We might ask Staines and Egham volunteers to join us because they've got heavy equipment and yes, we do get new people.
Generally, sustainability is my biggest concern, always, you know, because it's very easy. You lose two or three people from a group, don't you? And then it's, oh, my goodness, you know what's going to happen.
Gareth Davies:
And the door is always open. Vivienne is very clear on that.
Vivienne Leighton:
If you go into the website, which we are slowly getting around to updating even more, there's a contact us and I get the messages and so I always. We always go back to people.
We're very responsive and we know, we try and get people, you know, sometimes somebody will come to the village fair stall where we raise money and say, you know, tell me more. And then we tell them more and hopefully they join.
Gareth Davies:
I ended by asking Vivienne something more personal. After 15 years, what has the group meant to her?
Vivienne Leighton:
I never say no. So it was like, what do. Okay, right. And I never dreamt it would turn out to be this.
And quite honestly, it means the world to me because I've done it right from the beginning. I'm not a gardener as such. I've got a garden, but I'm not a gardener. Like this.
So I deal with all the stuff that all these people who want to garden keep assuring me, just do it, do it. We don't want to know. And I just love it. It's so rewarding that it's.
You're doing something that people really like and value and it's, you know, it's.
Gareth Davies:
Got a purpose and that purpose is bigger than flowers.
Vivienne Leighton:
Our mission was to make the village nice, keep the village nice, to support the shops. And that's the other thing.
I mean, I know we all shop online, but if we didn't have Shepperton village shops, there wouldn't be a Shepparton in the same way at all. It really is the core of Shepparton and it really matters. And so doing anything to support that really, really matters. And it matters to me.
Gareth Davies:
That was Vivienne Leighton of the Shepperton Village Conservation Group. If you'd like to get involved as a volunteer, a work morning helper or just to find out more, head to sheppertonvcg.uk and drop them a message.
And if you've got a free morning on the 4th of July, they'd love to see you head to the village center and join in. As for the Sheppartonian, we're growing: a new website at the sheppertonian.uk, a live event on 3rd June, the Sheppartonian Live, with tickets in the show notes.
Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.
Thanks to the partners and supporters backing the Sheppertonian through the Business Club, the Ferry Coffee Shop, Meon Media, the Sound Boutique, Island Motors and LuvBiltong. Their support keeps this podcast rooted in the community. I'm Gareth. This has been the Sheppertonian. Until next time, I'll see you around.
