Another Quiz Night!
The LGA needs funds to pay its bills (for example, we have an expensive insurance policy to cover damage to the pergola, playstructure and seating). On Monday 9th April 2012 the proceeeds from the Quiz Night at the Bay Horse Inn in Cistern Street will once again go to the LGA. Last time we raised over £110) - please come along at 8pm and make this one as successful!
Visit to Rosie Musgrave's Studio
On Thursday 4th August, members of the LGA Committee paid a visit to Rosie Musgrave's studio on Dartmoor to see how work was progressing. See here for photos.
Pool Design Event
On Saturday 25th June we held a Pool Design Event at Birdwood House, High Street, Totnes. You can read more about what happened here.
Totnes Garden Trail
Sue Holmes has produced a Garden Trail document that describes a walk round Totnes (with a detailed map) visiting all three new gardens (the Leechwell Graden, The Lamb Garden and Heath's Garden). You can download a printable copy of the document here.
Access
Leechwell Garden Association and Totnes Development Trust would like to let all users of Leechwell Garden that there is, as yet, no agreement on access via Heath Way. For the moment the garden has just two entrances - the main entrance from the Heath Way car park and the side entrance from the footpath to the Leechwell. We are working with all parties concerned to try to resolve the issue, and would ask the community as a whole both to continue to be patient, and to support our efforts on your behalf.
LGA 2011 AGM
The 2011 Annual General Meeting of the Leechell Garden Association was held at 7pm on Wednesday 18th May in the Assembly Room at the Royal 7 Stars Hotel on the Plains. See here for details.
Spring Activity - Sunday 13th March
See here for pictures taken during the day.
Visit by Green MP Caroline Lucas
On Thursday February 24th 2011, Caroline Lucas (MP for Brighton Pavilion) visited the Leechwell Garden. See here for details.
Opening of the Lamb Garden
On Friday 18th February 2011, Sarah Wollaston MP opened the new garden at the top of the Lamb in Totnes. See here for photos.
And the Winner is ...
Rosie Musgrave! For more details click here.
Opening of Heath's Garden
On Tuesday December 7th the new Heath's Garden (beside the Masonic Hall) was officially opened. Some (poorly exposed) pictures can be seen here.
Shirley Prendergast Interview
Between 7 am and 9 am on Sunday 5th December BBC Radio Devon (104.3 FM) will be broadcasting a piece on the Garden, the Pool and the Leechwell. It's an interview with Shirley Prendergast by Lincoln Shaw of BBC Radio Devon. Click on the Play button below to hear the piece.
Both Gates have now been installed!
See here for pictures of the main gate and the gate onto the footpath to the Leechwell.
Public Art Competition News
There was an excellent response to the Public Art Competition with 20 artist/sculptors submitting a great variety of ideas of a very high standard. After much deliberation the selection panel chose four finalists to go through to the next stage:
Over the next few weeks the finalists will be submitting details of their ideas and an exhibition of the four finalists' work may be seen for one day only at Birdwood House, Totnes on Saturday December 4th, 10.00 - 4.00 pm.
The winner will be announced on December 15th 2010.
It's Open!
There are photos of the opening here and of the rehearsal for it here.
The Main Gates have arrived!
See here for pictures of the new main gates.
Grand Opening!
On Sunday 17th October 2010 at 3pm, the garden will be officially opened! For more details of the grand launch event (with music and giant figures) click here.
Construction of the Dry Stone Wall and the Pergola
On Thursday 7th October, volunteers were hard at work building the dry stone wall in the herb garden - see here. The next day, Tim Crowley and his crew started work erecting the Pergola - see here.
Public Art Competition Announced
The LGA will be holding a £5000 competition for a piece of public art to be placed in the garden - full details here
Construction of the Play Structure
Work has started on the play structure - click here for pictures.
Community Spaces Grant Application is Approved!
We submitted our application for a £50,000 Community Spaces grant back in May and have just (13th July) heard that our application has been successful! It took more than 6 months of hard work to put it together - you can see all the application documents we have produced here. Details of the ongoing project to spend the grant are here.
The 2010 AGM of the Leechwell Garden Association was held on Tuesday 29th June at the Civic Hall, Totnes. It was well-attended and over £130 was raised in donations. Elections were held for the committee and some changes to the constitution were approved. You can read about both here.
Peter Randall-Page visits the Garden
The well-known sculptor Peter Randall-Page (who lives on Dartmoor) visited the Leechwell Garden at the invitation of the LGA Committee this week. See here for details and photos.
Questionnaire Feedback
Many thanks to all those who completed the questionnaire (over 150 of you!). A most striking feature of the feedback was the extent to which respondents felt that community wishes had been successfully interpreted in the plans for the new garden. Almost all reported being very satisfied or satisfied with all features. There were a few "don't knows" expressed on an/some aspects and a small minority expressed dissatisfaction. Most popular was the way that community wishes had been interpreted in relation to the natural planting (96% satisfied or very satisfied), followed by benches (95%) then trees (94%) and herb garden (94%), pergola (93%) and informal play (90%).
Shirley Prendergast has written a document describing the consultation (available for download here) and Gill Dunne has produced a report analysing the data (available for download here). Given the overwhelming support for the plans from the community, we're hopeful that out application to Community Spaces will be successful.
March 5th 2010 - Progress!
Pictures of South West highways in the garden in March 2010 are here. Real progress has been made on the devon banks, drystone walls and herb garden and work is starting on the pools. The work is expected to take about 8 weeks (end of March).
February 1st 2010 - Clearance Work Starts
Pictures of South West highways in the garden in February 2010 are here. The infrastructure work is expected to take about 8 weeks (end of March).
Felling of the large Eucalypt
Pictures of the felling of the big Eucalypt - taken from Leechwell Cottage on December 10th and 11th 2009 - are here.
Funding News
Stage 1 of our application to Community Spaces for £50,000 has been approved. The grant will help provide benches, gates, the herb garden and pergola and play structures for children. The committee is busy working on Stage 2 - the forms are quite daunting!
Exhibition at Birdwood House, Totnes
On Friday 27th and Saturday 28th November 2009 an exhibition devoted to the Leechwell Garden and the proposed Heath's Garden was held at Birdwood House, Totnes (on the corner of the Market Square). It will be open from 9am until 4pm on Friday and from 10am until 2.30pm on Saturday.
As well as updated plans of what is proposed, members of the LGA committee were on hand. Charles Fox and Anthony Harrison were also available to answer questions about his proposals for Heath's Garden (the piece of land next to the Masonic Hall sometimes known as "Pooh Corner"). Several hundred people attended.
If you would like to be involved in the garden, fill in the form on the Help page.