A group of charity gardeners are celebrating after Dudley Council and a Midland business decided to dig deep and buy them new tools.
Growing in the Park is a project run by Dudley Mind, using horticulture and practical activities to help improve health and wellbeing.
Since 2014, the group’s volunteers have tended the historic walled garden and the old glasshouses at Wollescote Park, caring for the original planting and developing new areas for fruit and vegetable growing.
As the number of volunteers has expanded, the charity has been running short of tools for the gardeners until Dudley Council stepped in and linked them up with Tudor Environmental.
The Coventry-based firm, which is a supplier for Dudley Council, donated £100 worth of gardening tools to help the gardeners after being contacted by the council about the charity.
Jill Hogan, horticulture project manager at Dudley Mind, said:
The garden provides a perfect place to cultivate new skills, with support on hand if needed. The volunteers gain a sense of achievement through their contribution and that’s an important factor for good mental health. We’re delighted with our new tools which will help us continue providing this very valuable service to people.”
Alex Beresford, from Tudor Environmental, said:
Dudley Mind do such fantastic work and we were only too happy to help after we spoke to the council. As a business, we take great pride in our community responsibility, making sure we put something back whenever we can.”
Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for environmental, highways and street services, added:
We were delighted to have been able to help Dudley Mind by linking them up with one of our suppliers. They use the greenhouses and a patch of land at one of our parks so we have supported their work for quite some time. It was a very kind gesture from Tudor Environmental who clearly recognise, as we do, the tremendous value provided by Dudley Mind to people who are in most need.”
The volunteers take part in various gardening and maintenance projects at Wollescote Park, including sowing seeds, planting fruit trees and bringing the once derelict greenhouses back into use.
The money paid for hand tools as well as hoes, forks and spades.
