'BIG DIG' HERALDS NEW LIFE FOR OLD GARDEN

A "big dig" by 40 children, parents and teachers has helped breathe new life into a Victorian walled garden at Polwhele House, Truro.

The green-fingered group set about their task in the wake of many years' good work supervised by teacher Richard Hichens.

When he retired last summer, his passion for gardening and the school's beautiful grounds was acknowledged as "immense," and there was no obvious candidate for filling his shoes.

Rather than let the Victorian feature "go to seed," the answer was to take it forward with the aid of a dedicated new committee of staff and parents, led by bursar Deborah Mackay.

They organised the "big dig" – with spades, hoes, rotavators and rolled-up sleeves employed to remove weeds and turn over the soil during a day's onslaught.

This has been followed by pupils' regular planting and seed-sowing, together with the setting-up of a whiteboard in the greenhouse to co-ordinate progress.

Headmaster Mr Alex McCullough explained:  "The idea is that as and when the children come in to do some gardening, they leave a list of 'next jobs' marked up on the whiteboard, and the next children coming in will make sure those jobs get done.

"We have a gardening club, but we are aiming to get the whole school involved.  They can come and go as they please in a true collective effort – and to make it all the more enjoyable we have also installed a little seating area with tea and coffee facilities."

Mr McCullough added:  "Precious few schools can boast a walled garden and greenhouse in their grounds and this is a wonderful opportunity for the children to appreciate and practise self-sufficiency and to benefit from healthy eating."

The all-green exercise will see the children's own fruit and vegetable produce finding its way into their school meals.  

And the recycling concept will be reinforced with the soil benefiting from manure from the school stables and compost from the kitchens.          

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EDITOR'S NOTES

Contact: Helen Mulhern on 01326 376273 / helen@eventy.co.uk

Alex McCullough, tel  01872 273011