Westfield Community Garden
Report April 2025
The Garden has looked and continues to look lovely with flowering plants, bulbs, shrubs and trees. The Brownies decorated their raised beds with pictures of Easter eggs. There is evidence of the Garden being well used with writing and drawings on the wildlife blackboard as well as us and neighbours often seeing people there using the gym equipment, the bench and the picnic tables or just walking through.
Pat made little bobble hats on chocolate Easter eggs to be sold at the Community Centre raising £61.40 for bedding plants. We also have £45 in garden tokens. The WCA notice board has been moved from the back of the Garden to by the Stiby Road gate so passersby can read it. That along with the attractive flowering bed there looks welcoming and cared for. John Willis has produced a plan identifying all the trees which is now in the lockup. With the help of Peter Chapman we are working on getting the raised beds area ready for the coming season including repairing some of them. The grass has had its second cut and the new mower is working well with a view to the grass being cut fortnightly by new and existing volunteers. It has a setting that chops the grass finely so it does not been to be removed afterwards, saving effort and time. We are keeping a wildlife corridor along the boundary with Lockwood Court and at present are not cutting areas where bulbs are to let them die down.
We are hopeful of having the time and the weather to re-lay the painted pebbles in early May. Unfortunately there has been a further delay on moving forward with the picnic tables area project due to the ill health of the contractor who had generously offered to do the work for the cost of materials only. Once we have that quote we will present that to the trustees along with the original quote for their decision. Approval from Somerset Council has been received for a safety barrier on the pavement outside the Stiby Road gate and Mike Chant has kindly applied to Yeovil Town Council for a grant to cover this.
A date for your diaries: Able2Achieve is using the Garden to host their event in the Glorious Gardens scheme to raise money for St Margaret’s Hospice as it celebrates its 45th year – Wednesday 18 June 10am-12noon. They will be providing cakes etc from their Winking Frog café kitchen.
We continue to have a small but committed group of volunteers who we really appreciate, alongside A2A who support our monthly volunteers sessions. Some of us go to lunch afterwards at the Community Centre – an opportunity to discuss ideas and get to know each other better.
Pete & Pat Gaylard, Sonia Chant, John Willis & Rosie Keynes
Westfield Community Garden Lead Team
on behalf of Westfield Community AssociationLorem
Westfield Community Garden Report for WCA’s Open Meeting 3 March 2025
As in many gardens these past 2 months has been a quieter time as we wait for spring to come along but there are still behind the scenes things to do.
At our January volunteers session we spring cleaned the lock up and tidied up the raised bed enclosure.
At February’s we weeded the bed facing Stiby Road and removed the stump of a tree. The highlight that day was that a blackboard for recording wildlife sightings was fixed to the wall between the bench and the picnic area. It was made by Pete and Pat complete with colourful pictures on it and chalk to write with – they have done a superb job making it.
There is evidence that the gym equipment is regularly used despite the time of the year.
We have had a new volunteer who we hope will become a regular as well as recently
showing around someone who cannot come to the sessions but was happy to have a task to do between times. We will be looking for folk to help mow the grass fortnightly.
Carl McClean has started getting quotes for us to improve the accessibility of the picnic tables area and the results will be shared with the trustees in due course before any decision is made to progress this project.
If the dry weather continues we just maybe able to complete the process of re-laying the painted pebbles at last!
The new padlocks for the Garden gates are all combination locks so that it will be easier than passing keys around when necessary. Thanks as always to those who lock and unlock the Garden daily.
On 25 January there was a Winter Warmer event based at the Community Centre arranged by Edd Chilcott of Yeovil Country Park and Sarah Moore SPARK community organiser. Peter C and Rosie attended. There was charcoal making in the Garden which was then used to create pictures using the picnic tables to work on. Apple bird feeders were also made there and then there was wassailing in the orchard. It was a very successful joint event and the organisers appreciated our support.
We have entered the Garden and green spaces for Britain in Bloom South West: It’s Your Neighbourhood as in previous years and some of us went to a meeting to hear about how the Town Council sees the way forward this year in the competition for the town as a whole as well as groups like us. Katy Menday and Andy from the Council are visiting the Garden and green spaces on Wednesday.
We regularly pass on photos of the Garden with a caption to be added to the website showing signs of spring as well as activities. Our monthly reports are also be posted. The volunteers sessions are now advertised on the screen in the Community Centre.
Westfield Community Garden report to Trustees 13 February 2025
As in many gardens this past month has been a quiet time as we wait for spring to come along but there are still behind the scenes things to do.
At our January volunteers session we spring cleaned the lock up and tidied up the raised bed enclosure.
Saturday 25 January
“Winter Warmer” based at St Peter’s Community Centre but using Westfield Community Garden, Saturday 25 January 2025
The talk evening 6th January 2025 by Carl McClean of the Green Flag organisation called “Around the World in 80 Parks”
Westfield Community Garden Report to Trustees 6 January 2025
Not so much to report this month due to the season and also our own commitments. In the autumn a hedgehog with her 5 very tiny hoglets had been disturbed in the Garden’s compost heap and they were taken to Secret World Wildlife Rescue Centre. In December we collected the mother to return to the Garden and move into a lovely home built by students of Westfield Academy. All the hoglets survived and once ready they were to be released elsewhere. We ran a Name Our Hedgehog competition at the Community Centre in aid of Secret World raising £46. Her name is Hermione – just so you know if you see her!
On 11 December we had a very successful Garden Volunteers Christmas Breakfast at the Community Centre attended by 27 people including the Able2Acheive gang and funded by WCA as a thank you to everyone for all they do throughout the year. The Centre kitchen team did a marvellous job and a good time was had by all. Our next volunteers session is this Wednesday 10am-12noon as we continue our pattern of meeting on the second Wednesday of the month. Later in the year we will experiment with additional weekend sessions to see if that attracts different people. We will also be looking for people to mow the grass regularly.
We have been approached by SPARK community organiser Sarah asking to use the Garden for a wassailing event based at the Community Centre on Saturday 25 January being run by her in partnership with Edd Chilcott the Community Ranger for Yeovil Country Park. We are meeting them for a planning meeting later this week.
Thank you to those who opened and locked the Garden throughout the festive season so it was available to local residents every day. Much appreciated.
Looking ahead we hope to complete re-laying the painted pebbles once the weather remains dry for long enough to ensure that the process works. With the support of Carl we will move forward with improving the accessibility of the picnic tables area and we also plan in the coming months to make the approach to the Garden from the Co-op car park more welcoming once the temporary fencing has been removed now that bollards have been installed. We will also be moving the notice board currently by the lock up to near the Stiby Road gate so that it will be read by more people passing by and put up a "black board" by the bench where people can write what they have seen in the Garden. As always we are working towards making the Garden low maintenance, sustainable, wildlife friendly and most importantly a community resource for all. With our thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement. Especial thanks to the
A2A gang and also to Joe, their master of networking and information.
Pete and Pat Gaylard, Sonia Chant, John Willis and Rosie Keynes
Westfield Community Garden Lead Team
on behalf of Westfield Community Association
Westfield Community Garden Report to Trustees December 2024
In some ways this past month has been quieter as not much is growing but we still find plenty to do.
We have not yet been able to complete the replacement of the painted pebbles due to there being no long enough dry periods when we are available.
Carl McClean is finalising the spec and getting a price guide for making the picnic tables area more accessible.
Westfield Academy made a hedgehog house for us for the mother hedgehog that was rescued from the compost heap along with her 5 new hoglets when their nest was disturbed in October. Secret World cared for them and she came back to Westfield last week. The hoglets will be cared for by specialist volunteers before being released elsewhere. We are running a Name the Hedgehog competition to raise a donation for Secret World.
Fortunately there was no significant damage in the recent strong storms; Abri’s broken fencing panel adjoining the Garden has been reported to them.
Steve sold 2 litter bins that are not needed in the Garden for £40 total.
We successfully tried out our new mower and will “just” need to find new volunteers next year to use it as this year has proved that fortnightly mowing makes a huge difference. In the spring we will explore the possibility of having extra weekend volunteers sessions to see if this raises numbers.
A Ukrainian woman introduced by Joanna a SPARK community organiser has helped Rosie to organise the storing and labelling of photos of the Garden for future reference and our portfolio. She has offered to help in other ways if required.
This week is our Garden Volunteers Christmas Breakfast at the Community Centre to be attended by 27 people including 12 staff and learners from A2A who as well as helping in the Garden throughout the year also were a significant help to Mike with his tree planting project. WCA kindly pays for the breakfast as a thank you to everyone. Later in the week 5 Garden volunteers are attending A2A’s community celebration marking all the learners have done throughout the year and recognising the part played by their partners like Westfield Community Garden. WCA’s new display boards will be used there to highlight its work.
The Adam Dance meeting signage has been cut up and the WCA name and logo taken from it and fixed to the Garden’s fencing at 3 points to promote WCA and its responsibility for the Garden to users and passers by.
Pete & Pat Gaylard, Sonia Chant, John Willis and Rosie Keynes
Westfield Community Garden Lead Team on behalf of Westfield Community Association
