The Garden Group of Ledbury & District U3A held a Tea Party in the Town, for the Town, on Friday, 29th August. Led by the Mayor, Bob Barnes and his wife, Carol, about 50 people attended the most enjoyable Fund Raising afternoon. More had made contributions previously, all making the day a tremendous success. This was to raise funds for the work being undertaken by the Group in the Walled Garden and Church Lane. Members of the group who usually visit gardens through the summer were concerned at the beginning of the year of suggestions that Herefordshire Council would not be maintaining flower beds in town as they did previously and approached the Town Council with a view to volunteering their services. As a consequence, 15 members have been working in groups on the beds at the top of the Walled Garden and are maintaining the rose bed in Church Lane. The Mayor said “I was privileged to be able to support the community spirit of the U3A gardeners in their work to improve the appearance of the Walled Garden. The cakes were excellent too!”

Sally Holliday, organiser, explained “So far we have raided our own gardens for plants but now we need money for more plants/shrubs to take the project forward. The £223.36 raised today will enable us to buy perennial plants and a few shrubs that will provide all-year interest in the borders that we are maintaining. We also want to buy some spring bulbs”. As one supporter noted, “The town is really fortunate to have this core of people working to restore the green spaces for the benefit of all of us”.

Based on information supplied by Georgina Howie.