5:50pm Friday 3rd July 2009
By Martin Lea
A PENSIONER is going the extra mile to ensure his community looks attractive.
This is the seventh year that Brian Coomber has planted hundreds of flowers around the streets of the Park District in Weymouth.
This season they have come up a treat, especially the roses at the front of the railway station in King Street, which were planted three years ago.
“I can’t do anything about the rubbish on the streets so this is my contribution to making the area look nice,” said former Merchant Navy sailor Mr Coomber, 69, of Chelmsford Street, who is helped by wife Janna.
He added: “I planted the roses around the trees at the front of the station to create an interesting effect.
“It’s a nice welcome to Weymouth for people coming in on the train.”
As well as planting at the front of the station, Mr Coomber tends to flowers in huge pots on the platform. He also looks after the planters in Ranelagh Road which he built himself.
Mr Coomber spends a ‘few hundred quid a year’ on equipment and waters the flowers twice a week, an operation that takes several hours.
He says people’s reaction to his work is his best reward.
He said: “I’m from Guernsey where people take a lot of pride in growing flowers.
“I suppose it’s my way of promoting the island here.
“I’m happy because I’ve got the biggest garden in Weymouth.”
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk