Kitchen Garden Trustees Hold Final Meeting
Recall how volunteers revitalised the walled garden in Chiswick
The trustees of the Kitchen Garden at Chiswick House have closed down the charity that revitalised the walled garden, as responsibility for running the project has been handed over to the Chiswick House and Gardens Trust.
(L-R, L to R: Gloria Moore, Alan Wadner, Karen Wyatt, Karen Liebreich, Robert Ward Dyer, Jo Rabin. (absent, Jutta Wagner).
The trustees (pictured above) held a meeting this week to finalise details and relive memories of the project they first started in 2005 when the 17th-century walled garden was discovered lying neglected in the grounds of Chiswick House.
The Chiswick House Kitchen Garden started as an association completely volunteer-led and dedicated to reviving the gardens and teaching local children and adults about horticulture and growing food. Over the years many local people volunteered their time to plant, weed, or carry out general work as the project captured the public imagination.
In 2008 David Bellamy presented the group with a Green Corner Award, and the garden featured on several television programmes, and became a part of community life, with organised school visits, an after-school gardening club, Open Days and volunteer work from students involved in the Duke of Edinburgh scheme.
In 2009 The Family Kitchen Garden by Karen Liebreich, Jutta Wagner and Annette Wendland, was published, outlining how the project first came about when one of them climbed over a wall and discovered the 'secret garden'.
The trustees have now given over a sum of £8,800 to fund work in the Kitchen Garden in accordance with their aims of accessibility to the garden, free lessons for schoolchildren, and keeping the garden as a community space. They have also handed over to the CHGT, a recent grant of more than £90,000, to pay for a community gardener for the next few years.
Founder member Karen Liebreich commented ;
"I think all the volunteers felt very proud to have been involved in saving the Kitchen Garden. We all learnt a lot (and not just about plants) and we had great fun in the process. We succeeded in creating something that in its little way made the world seem both a better and a more beautiful place."
Volunteers received community awards from Hounslow Council
Anyone who wants to see some information about the history of the project or read the blog posts can log onto ; www.kitchengarden.org.uk or : http://www.kitchengarden.org.uk/blog/2008_06_01_archive.html
October 17, 2012