It took 3 stressful months from November 2006 until March 2007 to access a grant of £44,000 from the Outer Shirley Regeneration Budget leaving us with 18 days to spend and complete project!! Our main contractor (Designer Landscapes) pulled out all the stops and finished the main garden infrastructure in time. Since then serious planting has taken place, especially around the pond, wildlife and pergola walkway borders. We have had help with the creation activities from many diverse sources working on a voluntary basis such as Elderfield ex-offenders, the Crew of HMS Southampton, local Guiders, local youth, Millennium volunteers, the British Trust Conservation Volunteers’ Green Gym, the congregation of Shirley Warren Action Church, special needs groups, a wildlife consultant and various plant experts.

On October 6th 2007 Charlie Dimmock came and opened the garden to the public, an event that was hugely successful and attended by many local people and of course those many individuals, groups and agencies whose help, advice and sheer physical effort made the Community Garden possible.

Already locals are getting involved and have taken responsibility for various areas of the garden and the future bodes well.  The entire next door school have visited and will continue to do so as well as the adjoining nursery, different groups and local youth who worked on several projects including the pond and amphitheatre. Only recently we obtained a grant to enable a local youth worker (who runs workshops for Graffiti and mosaics) to engage local youth to create five large wall mosaics which depict the four seasons and a Celtic cross. These are now complete and look amazing.

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