Community garden for Laurencetown

Everyone is invited to Laurencetown Community Centre at 7pm to make a bird box with Conservation Volunteers NI and hear more about the association’s newly acquired four-acre plot.

The community association says it needs local people to muck in and make this garden a sustainable and thriving community space where they can see the fruits of their labour on the dinner plate.

Keen gardeners and amateurs alike are encouraged to come along to help LLTCA plan how best to clear the plot and utilise the space.

They will be given the opportunity to work with Conservation Volunteers NI who have been contracted by Public Health Agency to assist and support community garden projects.

“This is a one-off opportunity to make use of a wonderful space situated off Barrack Hill,” says LLT Chair, Jim Bell. “Members of the public can be supported to grow their own and to contribute to the maintenance of a lovely, peaceful community space.

“In the future we hope to use the plot to provide developmental and training opportunities for our young people, in particular the young people with autism we work with out of Laurencetown Community Centre.”

LLTCA is currently receiving support from the Southern Social Enterprise Hub and Village SOS with a view to making the community garden a means of sustaining the group financially in the future.

On top of the garden launch, LLTCA has recently adopted Drumnascamph Road, Laurencetown as part of the Keep NI Beautiful ‘Adopt a Spot’ scheme. With the strapline ‘Live Here, Love Here’, the group felt that the Drumnascamph Road could benefit from some TLC and so have committed to carrying out four community clean-ups a year, the first taking place on Thursday, April 23 at 7pm. Residents are invited to participate and will be provided with litter pickers, gloves, bags, and hi vis vests.

Those willing to come out and give it a go will be rewarded with some refreshments at the end of the clean-up.

People are asked to meet at the community centre at 7pm and the clean is expected to take no longer than an hour.

For more information about either of these projects you can contact community development manager, Sarah McNeill, at Laurencetown Community Centre on 028 406 23770 or email [email protected]