Up The Garden Bath seeks votes of Peterborough residents to win £5,000 top prize in Selco competition

Residents in Peterborough are being urged to support a city based community interest company in a national competition.​

The founders of recycling venture Up The Garden Bath CIC (Community Interest Company) hope residents will back their quest to win a top prize of £5,000 in a national competition.

Up The Garden Bath, which as a community interest company uses its profits and assets for the public good, is one of 12 finalists from around the UK.

They are seeking a public vote in the builders merchants Selco Community Heroes competition, which has attracted nearly 2,000 entries.

Selco Builders Warehouse, which is creating 30 jobs with a new depot in Peterborough that opens in April, has organised the competition to support charities and community groups.

A team of Selco judges selected a dozen causes to receive £500 worth of building materials and now the shortlisted groups will be aiming to top a vote and land a cash windfall.

A second prize of £1,000 is also available for the runner-up.

Up The Garden Bath CIC upcycles old bathtubs into planters for schools, care homes and community centres and the £5,000 prize would allow it to invest in its workshop.

Dave Poulton, co-founder of Up The Garden Bath, said: “We are committed to helping local businesses reduce waste and landfill.

"We teach people about recycling, gardening techniques, self sustainability and wildlife preservation.

“Our educational planters make use of unwanted items such as baths and encourage people to eat well and grow their own food.

“Since launching in February 2020 we have installed over 50 upcycled bathtub planters across Cambridgeshire and delivered our educational workshops to nearly 10,000 children of varying ages and learning abilities.

“Winning the Selco Community Heroes top prize enable us to make significant improvements to our workshop.”

Carine Jessamine, marketing director at Selco, said: “Our Community Heroes campaign has been hugely successful.

"We were inundated with a record-breaking number of applications from a host of good causes with outstanding credentials, so Up The Garden Bath CIC has done extremely well to be shortlisted.

“They do excellent work in the community and hopefully the whole of Peterborough will get behind the charity in their quest to win an amount of money which would make a huge difference to the work they do.”

To vote, visit the Seco website. Voting is open until midnight on February 28.