A COMMUNITY garden introduced to Knighton last year is really flourishing, with hopes that a gardening club for under 18s will soon sprout up.

The first meeting of the new club is scheduled to take place later this month, on Saturday, February 25, while a photography project has also been launched to monitor changes throughout the year at the new wildlife and sensory garden area, located at Knighton and District Community Centre.

The garden was created in June 2022 and has flourished after being introduced thanks to grant funding.

Tom Johnson, who has recently been appointed as a part-time garden co-ordinator for the centre, to ensure the upkeep and development of the garden, help improve community relations and develop volunteering opportunities through gardening activities, has planted the seeds of some new ideas – including the ambition to start a gardening club for young people and the photography project, which will keep a weekly record of the garden through the whole of the current calendar year.

The idea for the garden began in spring 2021, when centre chiefs came up with the idea to develop and extend the garden situated to the rear of the centre. This was achieved thanks to a partnership with Powys County Council, from whom a grant was secured.

The grant was specifically aimed to enhance facilities, placing a particular emphasis on encouraging native species of plants and wild flowers to grow, which complemented an original centre plan to create a wildlife and sensory garden area.

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A substantial amount of work has since been undertaken, largely by local volunteers, to transform the garden. Thousands of bulbs have been planted, along with a variety of shrubs and trees, a garden shed and greenhouse have been erected, and various items of garden furniture have been installed, along with a range of planters and trellises.

Both family centre and the stay and play groups that are hosted at the centre have made extensive use of the expanded garden facilities during the last year. Stay and play meets weekly on Wednesdays, and is designed for pre-school children and their carers, while the family centre meets twice weekly, on Mondays and Fridays, and gives young children and their carers an opportunity to socialise and take part in a range of activities.

The family centre is grant supported and as part of its programme will be using the garden under the supervision of Toni Pettitt from the Woodland Tots and Forest School project.

As well as these groups, the library at the centre is planning to set up a gardening club for under 18’s, focused around the theme of science and nature, the first meeting of which will be on February 25, running concurrently with library opening times.

Tom is calling on people of all ages to take photographs in the garden and send them in, so that as comprehensive a record as possible can be assembled during the year.

Given that most people now have decent cameras on their smart phones and images can be so easily shared, it is hoped to attract wide support for this venture, and there will be regular monthly displays of photographs on the centre’s website, at https://knightoncomm.wales, as well as a plan to produce a calendar made up of the best judged photographs from the year.

Photographs can be of any subject at all, as long as they are in some way or another linked to the garden, and have the necessary permissions if any people appear in images.

Pictures should be sent to Tom via email on gardencoordinator@knightoncomm.wales.

More details of the photography project, and other activities mentioned, can be found on the Knighton and District Community Centre website.

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