Village Hall Garden Opening Ceremony

Saturday 24th August 2pm to 4pm

Background

Three years ago, committee member Les Crownshaw came up with a plan to improve the Village Hall garden which was looking very tired. His design incorporated raised beds with low maintenance planting, new seating areas and facilities to play games such as skittles, boules and draughts.

Les, and another committee member, Dave Butcher, agreed to do the landscaping themselves and an amazing £8000 was raised to buy materials. This came from Village Hall funds, very generous donations, and fundraising events such as a sponsored walk, the Scarecrow Fair in 2022 and Les’s sponsored cycle ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Firbeck Parish Council and Mr & Mrs Gambles kindly donated seats for the garden and our existing bench was renovated by two villagers, Jack Hall and Joe Biggin. This looks perfect in its new position.

The Committee are very grateful to everyone who has contributed whether by donating or attending one of our events.

Jane Crownshaw was responsible for producing a planting plan. In Autumn 2023 she planted over 2000 miniature daffodils and tulips which looked beautiful in the Spring.  Jane has continued with the planting of herbaceous perennials which will grow over time.

There is still work to do, including minor tree surgery on the Horse Chestnut and Ash trees and more planting of shrubs and sustainable perennials to give interest all year round.  Les is also going to build a stone central feature, supporting a metal compass indicating the position of local villages.

We hope the garden will become a meeting place for villagers, to sit and enjoy the space or play games with friends and families.

A big thank you to Les, Dave and Jane for creating a garden Firbeck can be proud of.