Charlton House Garden Volunteers are Six!

The official launch of the volunteer scheme to revive the Old Pond Garden took place on Sunday 23 February 2020. That’s six years ago, which apparently makes it our “Iron” anniversary ( new spades or forks anyone?). It seems unbelievable that volunteers then were more worried about the wind and rain from the tail end of Storm Dennis than the growing rumours of a future pandemic..

How far have we come? Well I have so many photos and emails from the last six years that I don’t know where to start! The first email I sent to the 33 folks who signed up that February included this immortal sentence:

“I’d like to stress that the volunteer work we envisage is not heavy stuff, and the emphasis is on enjoying the company of others who want to restore this garden to beauty.”

I then invited donations of primroses and snowdrops (many of which are still in there, thank you!) and cake, and sat back contentedly thinking this volunteering lark was a doddle.

The volunteer scheme was suspended on 21 March 2020, due to Covid, after just four sessions. But enthusiasm had taken root, and as the Community Hospice Open Garden Festival of that year went online, we entered this video in June 2020. (Thanks to Kay on Camera, Melanie on Narration, and me faffing about).

By the time we got back into the gardens, in July 2020, we had met local garden designer Jason Sylvan and adopted his garden design, decided that more than light weeding was needed, and the rest is history. Below are just a very few highlights of our success, which could not have happened without the help of too many people and organisations to name. Thank you to you all.

With hindsight, I should have put an “X” at a few points and taken a photo from point “X” in each season. As it is, I have lots of photos but they are all at slightly different angles. Anyway, enjoy, move the slider to see each picture. Happy 6th.

This is a tiny selection of photos, if you have others you would like to contribute, especially old ones, please send to garden@cabahs.com for our archive!

If you want to read more about the last six years, see the Old Pond Garden tab in the menu.

Kathy A