Saturday 8th July 2023
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Report written by Windsor and Maidenhead runner
On an expected stormy morning, which turned out to be muggy instead, four GoodGymmers made their way to help out Nature's Haven with setting up a community garden at the Youth & Community Centre.
This is a wonderful group who are trying to build a sensory garden for the people who use the centre - youth and elderly alike. The plan for this morning was to create some raised planter beds.
We started by carrying some wooden planks to the makeshift workshop (cycle racks) for some of the other volunteers to saw into the right size for building the planters.
Amy and Diya started off handily with the power drill to screw in the first bits of the wood. Meanwhile, Nicola and I dug up the channels to put the base frame into for the first planter. Then we got our own hands on another power drill and started building planters as well. Diya took a little knock with a wood plank (you're supposed to knock on wood and not have the wood knock you Diya!) but that didn't stop her expertly from screwing the planks together!
An hour and half into the task, the expected storm arrived. But we were not done yet, so we moved into the sports hall to continue the building work. Joined by councillor Jack, we made short work of it.
With one planter set up and one ready to go when the weather improves, we said our good-byes to the group.
This was such a brilliant task and the good news is that Nature's Haven will continue to need our support. Anyone interested to help can join them on their open volunteer sessions on Thursday evenings 5:30-7:30 pm or Saturday mornings 10am-12noon.
Nature’s Haven is an outdoor retreat to escape the pressures of everyday life. We aim to give our visitors a sense of strength and protection with the intention of providing a more tranquil state of mind. Our healing garden will be filled with a variety of plants that promote a sense of wellbeing and hope. Our garden designs are based on the principles of a physic garden, focusing on the plants' inherent healing properties. It will be a place of refuge where peace, healing, distraction and stress relief is promoted. Nature's Haven will create, maintain & continue to develop healing gardens to generate an abundance of positivity. The gardens will be restorative and yet enabling too, allowing the visitor to 'simply be', reflect & be fully present in the moment and/or actively engage in gardening through our social therapeutic horticultural programmes. We will provide events and opportunities to engage as many people in our community as possible as we nurture and promote a feeling of connectedness. We champion sustainability and we are guided by permaculture principles thus avoiding synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The gardens are designed with accessibility in mind. Wheelchairs will be able to access all areas of the garden and the paths and raised beds will help the visually impaired navigate their way around. We will also have adapted tools to assist with any mobility issues.
See moreSat 8th Jul 2023 at 1:46pm
Great report from a fun morning!
Sat 8th Jul 2023 at 4:49pm
Great work everyone! 👏
Windsor and Maidenhead
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