THE CHURCH GARDEN

The St Paul's Church Garden is for everyone! Over several years this popular and well-used space had become rather overgrown, with parts of it hidden by dense vegetation. But bit by bit, the congregation and several kind neighbours have been working hard to restore the garden to its full potential and open it up to all members of our community. 

Chiswick Flower Market has recently given St Paul's a generous grant of £3,000 to be used in our ongoing programme of upgrading the garden.  We replaced most of the fence around the garden a few years ago, and this new grant will enable us to finish that part of the project.  It will make the garden secure and closed for our younger visitors and enable parents to relax, knowing little ones are safe, while maintaining a sense of place.

We have received many donations of plants and shrubs, but perhaps more importantly, donations of time. Old and young have come together to tend the garden and to make it a calm and restorative place again.  Members of the congregation have recut the edges of the flower beds and planned the placing of the plants and bushes we have received. Ultimately, we hope the beds will become a haven for birds and insects, while offering visitors a sensory experience with rustling, scented and many textured plants.

There is still work to do in the garden.  We would like to install some new play equipment for young children and perhaps create routes through the planting to stimulate their interest in flowers, birds and insects.  Hedgehog tunnels and composting facilities will increase the diversity and environmentally friendly aspects of the garden. We would like to build dustbin housing for our bins and our recycling boxes, as these often get very wet before collection.  Our plan is to make housing for the bins with a green roof of sedums and other little plants.  

Our aim is that more groups will use the garden for their meetings.  We already have community groups like the Grove Park Group and Refugees Welcome Hounslow who use the garden and the Grove Park Room for periodic gatherings, including parties. Our Stay and Play group for parents and toddlers uses the garden every Friday, even in the depths of winter: “There is no bad weather, only bad clothes!" You can see them enjoying the garden in the picture above. Our Coffee Club also sometimes meet there.  We hope to establish the garden as a place of remembrance, with a Bereavement Group meeting there to support those who have recently lost someone. We hope as well that the irregular gardening sessions between neighbours and friends will develop into something more regular, possibly expanding into vegetable cultivation. And of course those who hire the Grove Park Rooms for parties and other events regularly overflow into the garden.

Finally, we want to install signposting in the garden, that will direct the lone walkers and groups of walkers who drop into the church and garden, to the High Road. We can offer advertising space to independent High Road businesses. We are researching historical facts and stories with the aim of bringing alive in people’s minds stories about Chiswick’s old thoroughfares connecting the High Road and the river. One of those stories is about Dead Donkey Lane, which went from Strand on the Green to the western end of the High Road.
The Gardening Team is led by Cassandra Barker and Shelagh Allsop. Do feel free to ask them any questions, or volunteer to join them in their efforts!