Let’s reminisce for a moment! Remember when having a lesson outside the classroom felt like being given the key to Narnia? Those were the days! Too few and too far apart for my liking.
Things have moved on since, and many education authorities now recognise the importance of young people experiencing the world beyond the classroom as part of their learning and development. Gardening Clubs are growing in popularity and encourage children to learn about gardening, whether that be in the form of a small vegetable patch or tending to a raised bed of wildflowers.
It all started with a simple handwritten letter.
“Blooming Patch” is John Burns Primary School’s gardening club and earlier this year one of its members contacted us, here at Fantastic Services. It turns out that Amaia Agyeman had quite liked the look of our Fantastic Gardeners’ vans she had spotted in her area. This inspired her to write us a letter asking for some advice for her school gardening club and their garden.
We were so touched by her enthusiasm and care for their communal plot that we were compelled to help her make her “garden happy again”. We always enjoy giving back to local communities through various charitable initiatives and during Amaia and her schoolmates’ half-term we sent a team of our green-fingered experts to perform a garden makeover.
Our Fantastic Gardeners rolled up their sleeves and got to work on replacing the dead grass patches on the lawn with fresh green areas. We built new benches, planters, and raised flowerbeds which we filled with colourful flowers and plants. We also donated watering cans, gardening tools and flower seeds for these budding Alan Titchmarshes, as well as a garden guardian and mascot we like to call Oliver the Owl!
On the day of the big reveal, our Head of Franchise Simon Mills surprised Amaia and all her classmates with their made-over garden space. As soon as she laid her eyes on their new “Blooming Patch”, her face lit up and was worth a thousand words.
You can read the full story in The Evening Standard (see online here) or The South London Press.
We had so much fun doing it, that we don’t want to stop there. We are currently giving away free gardening labour to gardens of social importance which make a difference to their local community and residents.
We are currently giving away free gardening labour to gardens of social importance which make a difference to their local community and residents.
If you would like to nominate a garden, head over to our Facebook page to find out how.
And check out pictures from the event in the gallery below:
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