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21st February 2010
Community garden given major cash boost
A GARDEN that will help community spirit grow in Bury has been awarded more than £48,559 thanks to some of town’s most senior residents
Residents from Muir Group Housing’s Fusilier Court, in Chislehurst Close, Bury have been raising money for three years to help pay for the community garden outside their homes.
Now they have been awarded the cash sum from the Big Lottery Community Spaces programme.
Pauline Harrison, Fusilier Court’s housing manager, said: “Three years ago the residents decided to set up a landscape garden committee with a vision to create an outdoor space that the whole community could benefit from.
“Since then there has been no stopping them. From hosting car boot and table top sales to afternoon tea events, the committee has worked tirelessly to fundraise, consult and drum-up local support for the garden.”
The funding comes as a huge reward for the 77 residents – aged from 60 to 90 – who have raised more than £5,000 themselves over the past three years to turn their outdoor space into somewhere the whole town can enjoy.
The Community Spaces programme is designed to help community groups create or improve green and open spaces so that the quality of life in neighbourhoods across England is enhanced.
Mrs Betty Howard, chairperson of Fusilier Court’s landscape garden committee, said: “It has been a rollercoaster ride over the past three years but one I wouldn’t have missed for the world.
