a royal welcome

We were honoured to introduce a very special visitor to the space2grow community recently when HRH The Duke of Edinburgh visited Farnham to plant the 70th and final tree in Jubilee Walk. We were among a number of community groups invited to the event on 20 March, organised by Farnham Town Council.

Photo and title photo credit: Andy Newbold

The Duke chatted with trustees and heard first hand from gardening volunteers about helping to maintain the acre through the seasons.

Some of the children from Potter's Gate Primary School joined us to show and tell the Duke about the willow bird feeders they had learnt to make at space2grow. They even gave him one to take home for his own garden!

We were really proud of the children representing Potter's Gate and Farnham Heath End School, who spoke so confidently and enthusiastically about the projects they were involved with at space2grow.
The FHES pupils explained how they were building a recycled bottle greenhouse, after asking Tuppy to welcome the Duke with a paw shake.

The Duke then sat down for a coffee and a chat with our parenting group, to hear how the courses have helped local families and offer his own advice on the subject.

He also met with Farnham Men in Sheds, a space2grow collaboration with Farnham Maltings. The guys had great delight in telling the Duke about the many community partners they've worked with in the past year, including schools, community centres, churches, the museum and more. They also gifted the new Duke a footstool, similar to those built as part of a woodworking project for a local nursery.

We are extremely grateful to everyone who helped prepare for the event in the days before, repotting flowers in teapots, planting rhubarb in buckets and gathering willow for the demonstrations. Also, to those who helped set up the marquee on the day and represented the broad variety of activities at space2grow. We couldn't have done it without you.

From the fabulous array of plants and willow weaving to our framed letter from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, we decorated our space to try to give a little flavour of the acre to the Duke of Edinburgh.

Tuppy behaved beautifully and got lots of attention throughout the morning.

It was lovely to spot space2grow on the commemorative plaque. Look at all the individuals, local schools and organisations who have planted a tree along the walk over the past year. A real community effort.

in the news

Thank you to the Farnham Herald for featuring space2grow in both the printed and digital reports of the special royal visit. You can check out the online version to watch a short video of the big day. We also got a mention in the Daily Mail Online report of the visit.
And we were delighted to see that our willow bird feeder workshop for Potter's Gate Primary School was featured in last week's Farnham Herald.

out and about in Farnham

A big thank you to the Friends of Victoria Gardens for hosting space2grow on 13 March for the annual Beryl Mackay lecture. It was a real team effort again, explaining about the history of space2grow, all the various projects that happen on the acre and how people can get involved. We are grateful for the donation that was made to space2grow following our presentation.

in our garden

We've seen snow, wind, rain and sun in the garden over the past few weeks but it hasn't dampened spirits. Last week our volunteers harvested even more willow to finish the fencing around the wildflower meadow and cleared the path behind the maze.

The beans and shallots were planted out ...

And we took delivery of some frog spawn, which has been added to the pond.

In the greenhouse, there are shoots of new growth ...

... while outside the Charlotte potatoes have been dug in and the border planting is being planned.

And there's been a flurry of spring cleaning over the past few weeks, both outside and in.

reflections from the acre ...

The reflections this week come from Claire Cave, the Wellbeing Intervention Coordinator at Farnham Heath End School, who accompanied a group of students to meet HRH The Duke of Edinburgh on 20 March ...

"We were honoured today to accompany four of our students on a trip to the new Jubilee Walk on the Riverside in Farnham, to represent our partnership with space2grow as they, in turn, were asked to showcase their community work at this exciting event, attended by newly appointed HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.
We had been sworn to secrecy about our VIP visit and had promised the students that we would tell them who was visiting when we were on the mini bus on our way there!
The students, who have been building our recycled bottle greenhouse on site at space2grow over the last few months, welcomed the Duke with a 'royal paw' trick from Tuppy, the space2grow support dog. The Duke asked "how long did it take you to train him to do that?!" laughing.
The students explained and demonstrated how they were creating the bottle walls of the greenhouse to the Duke, who asked questions and listened intently as they explained.
The Duke went on to plant the 70th tree to complete the new avenue and unveiled a memorial plaque to celebrate the occasion.
The highlight was during a photo shoot, with all those involved in the event, when one pupil shook the Duke's hand and another received a fist pump from the Duke!
Both Miss Tarry and myself were incredibly proud of the students who represented both school and space2grow with such enthusiasm and pride.
Wellbeing Interventions that connect our students to the community play such an important role in developing confidence and a sense of achievement and self for those taking part. We are pleased to continue to offer our students these important opportunities and extend our thanks to our space2grow family who always make us so welcome."

If you would like to share what the acre means to you, please email info@space2grow.space - we love hearing everyone's reflections.