THE BIG NEWS........Tewkesbury say ‘YES’
to our plans
Well, what an amazing summer we have had. The weather
may have been
disappointing but we have had so much fun and have made huge advances.
The real highpoint of this session though has been the news that Tewkesbury
Borough Council have approved our Planning Application for a new classroom.
The unit which will sit to the back of the site, will be of timber construction
and will comprise a large workshop/classroom space together with toilets
and a kitchen.
It is hoped that the work will begin in the new year. There is a good
deal of fund raising to do first, but everyone is up for it.. We extend
a very special thanks to Paul Barnes and Tony Macfarlane of The Reddings,
who both made a huge commitment to the application. This development will
make a big difference to our work.
The project becomes ever more diverse and each day is
punctuated by some new and exciting development or a spontaneous action
that spurs all round smiles.
Art and Music are now bringing new life and we must offer a big thanks
to The Trafford Trust who are supporting our endeavours in these areas.
New art and music equipment are on order.
Aside from on site work our community commitments have
also expanded. In the late spring, we were once again working with the
Borough Council, this time on Hanging basket construction and we planted
up the airport with a seasonal show.
Gone Fishin’...........
Recognising the old adage about, ‘all work an no play’
we have had our social highpoints too. One warm morning in July
we all went fishing. The decision was quite spontaneous, Roger and
Sandy our near neighbours (who have lakes) had given us an open
invite so we went.. All morning squeals of delight rose from the
lakeside in Staverton as one fish after another was landed. The
star of the day was Wisdom Smith who just kept hooking them.
At the end of that month came an invite to link up with Cheltenham
in Bloom. Our efforts at willow sculpt, not only graced the Committees
Tatton Park display, but also had our team appearing on BBC Gardeners
World. The picture on the right shows the final Cheltenham exhibit.
In fact as the summer wore on, we found ourselves with quite a star
struck team, as yet another film crew rolled up, this time to film
a documentary on behalf of our old friends The Gloucestershire Community
Foundation. The crew were on site for a whole day, it was brilliant.
And all of this in the same week that The Butterfly Garden was
invited to the Queens Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.
A real Gem
We do love success stories and take great delight in celebrating
them.
We are thrilled to announce that Gemma Winwood, who joined us as
a volunteer quite a few years ago was, this spring taken on as an
employed member of staff. She is a real star and is an inspiration
to and wonderful with all of our students.
Well done Gemma and thank-you for all of your help and kindness
!
And Gemma wasn’t the only one celebrating success this summer,
across in Cheltenham, The Beez Kneez our Gloscol Young Enterprise
group were also picking up accolades, finding themselves presents
at the South Western region finals, having really mopped up at the
County event.
As the Summer term moved towards its close and with everything looking
pretty ship shape (in spite of the weather ) we had an Open Day
to show off our work and over 200 turned out to give the place the
once over. Included amongst our visitors were the Mayor and Mayoress
of Tewkesbury (Councillor and Mrs Calway), who were treated to the
now famous ‘Alan Brown Tour’.
In recognition of that service the Mayor bestowed his chain of
office on Alan, who has promised a ‘reduction in Council Tax
and free sweets for all students’.
In mid July many groups were being disbanded for the holiday season
and on paper there was a suggestion that the site would be deserted
by August. But the students were never going to stick to that. Term
time might have finished, carers may have gone on holiday, transport
was unavailable, but still they came.
This has also been a great year for wildlife, the season when we
had to install rabbit fences to protect our vegetable area and found
ourselves constantly having to cover things with nets to keep out
the pigeon and butterflies.
It was also the summer of love and of much giggling to herald
the arrival of a new man on the patch. His name is also Alan and
he’s a real ladies man (I mean duck) and with three to choose
from who can blame him. His antics continue to be most entertaining.
Before we knew it the summer was past and students were returning in
their droves, everyone up for the task and even on wet days keen to plough
on with the work. We are still finding areas to rescue and more ground
clearance has been undertaken, Hundreds of Daffodils and Bluebells have
been planted and our spring show should be spectacular.
STOP PRESS: Rumours of Gerrys’ retirement are greatly exaggerated,
he’s here as a volunteer every Friday and we’d be lost without
him!
It has also been a joy to see groups committing to big challenges and
the students from Churchdown certainly did that. They have dedicated their
time this autumn to building a quayside in our wildlife area. The work
has involved the excavation of large quanities of soil from the bank of
our brook and the construction of a path at water level. When the work
is finished this will be a lovely area.
Of all the alterations this summer though, the desert has to have
been the most dramatic...
All of life’s journeys should have their surprises and that
is why we’ve built a dessert, in the middle of a wood.
It has been in the planning for some time, the thinking being that
you will suddenly emerge from dense woodland and find yourself in
a barren space.
We shifted ten tons of soil and five tons of gravel and with expert
guidance from Desert builder extraordinaire Mr Terry Wise, our dream
has been realised. Already impressive, it really will become quite
a spectacle.
More news from the desert in the future.
With the year almost over, there has been much reflection and the
savouring of so much achieved by the students.
Inevitably, with the passing of time and for all sorts of reasons some
students have had to move on.
Whilst this is all part of the progression, we just love it when they
come back. This autumn has been joyous, we have seen Chris Nicholas and
Wesley Bayliss back, Matthew Bush and Keira regularly dropping in, Laura
Mattock and Stuart Evans serving as volunteers on the site and Alex Smith
landing with regular up dates on his forward journey. These former students
share and inspire as more new visitors arrive and ‘our community
grows’.
FOR SALE @ £395.00
We are pleased to report that the portable gardens designed on site
for our wheelchair users have now gone into commercial production.
The units have been invaluable and we have had numerous enquiries
for them, so we have passed on the construction details.
They are being manufactured by C.Lewis Fabrications.
Further details call 01452 -715111 or 07966425841
COMING SOON……Heavy fund raising on the horizon,
a new art space and much more......
Watch the web !
The Butterfly Garden, Bamfurlong Lane, Cheltenham, Glos.
GL51 6SL
Tel: 01452 – 713068
www.thebutterflygarden.org
A member of THRIVE the horticultural therapy charity
The roll of honour....... THANK YOU…As usual people continue
to offer their time and support to our work, so this term a big thanks to
the wonderful Zoe Hart ,Sue Totham, Louise and Gemma, The Maths group, Trafford
Trust, Brimpsfield Horticultural Society, Cheltenham Horticultural Society
and in particular Ron and Sally Cowie, ASTAC, Hillary, Eileen, Colin Walker,
Paul Barnes, Joe Tustin, Rich Thomas (our webmaster) Michael Hunt and Stuart
Evans. Also to Robin from Denmark Road, Graham (from Nailsworth) and Cheltenham
in Bloom . Mark and the gang at the Borough nursery who have all been brilliant.
and to all those who continue to support our vegetable box scheme as well
as those who keep our sales table stocked. Liam and St Christopher’s
Gardening Club. Chedworth Gardening Society and all who continue to support
us.
Registered charity
no. 1133233
"The flap of a butterfly wing in America
can cause an earthquake in China" - The Butterfly Effect
The Butterfly Garden is supported
by a group of volunteers and is of charitable purpose.
We are a member of THRIVE the horticultural therapy charity.
If you want to know more about our work or feel like offering some help
or telephone 01452-713068.
