For the first time in many years the village of South Petherwin will be celebrating the joys of spring by digging in their new allotments.

Thanks to local farmer Ian Trehane and his wife Kathryn who have leased one of their fields to the village, and a £1,000 O2 It's Your Community 'Green & Clean' Award, South Petherwin has a new allotment site and somewhere to store its equipment.

It's Your Community is a programme that was set up to provide communities with cash awards to drive small changes that can make a big difference.

Angela Johnson, O2's regional manager, brought South Petherwin Allot­ment Gardeners (SPAGs) their It's Your Community Award on Saturday. Their It's Your Community award has helped make the allotment site viable as SPAGs now have weather proof storage which is large enough for both equipment, and to make the all important cup of tea when the heavens open.

The original allotments in South Petherwin had long since disappeared so the opportunity to establish a new allotment site was greeted with enthusiasm. The allotments will also provide a communal composting facility, where green garden waste will be processed for use on the allotments and possibly in residential gardens too.

INVITATION

North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson accepted SPAGs' invitation to officially open the site.

Peter Bailey said: "Our village has a long agricultural history but there is very little spare land for allotments for growing our own produce. Needless to say we are delighted that O2 It's Your Community has given us this support which has helped us get our new allotment up and running in time for spring. All plots on the new site are now fully subscribed and are administered by SPAGs — the South Petherwin Allotment Gardeners."

O2's Angela Johnson said: "It's Your Community cuts out the red tape people generally have to go through to get funding. The programme was set up to give people the chance to make a difference and I believe we're hitting that target. The It's Your Community Awards exist to inspire everyone to make a tangible difference to the places we live.

"We want to build a network of projects across the country that collectively makes a difference and SPAGs' community effort to set up a new allotment site for their village is doing exactly that."

Awards from £100 to £1,000 are available for ideas which benefit the community or build community spirit. The programme has now given £1 million to community projects across the UK. To be inspired by the projects supported so far and apply for an award log onto http://www.itsyourcommunity.co.uk">www.itsyourcommunity.co.uk