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.
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