Community garden launches in Southwick

A Hove funeral coordinator has partnered with Eastbrook Primary Academy to launch a community garden project on Sunday 10 March.

Following a £500 donation from Caring Lady Funeral Directors and work from volunteers, the community garden will enable the school children to plan, grow, cultivate, harvest and consume products grown within the grounds.

Lucy Harvey, funeral coordinator at Caring Lady Funeral Directors, said: “For possibly the windiest Sunday known for quite some time, there was a pleasing show of parents and students for the initial garden project gathering. We started preparing the land and planter beds, and reconstructing a former greenhouse made of plastic bottles.

“There were plenty of tools to hand. The children got involved and by the end of the morning, there was a massive improvement. Now the area is ready to start sowing seeds and creating an area for Eastbrook to be really proud of and utilise to its maximum potential.

“I am so pleased that we, as a company, can inspire little minds when perhaps they do not have the facility within their own home environment. I believe that this creates pride and inspiration which when experienced at an early age is a great gift to give to a child.”

Julia Sherlock, headteacher at Eastbrook Primary Academy, added: “We are very keen to use our fantastic school grounds as part of the wider curriculum. This project will allow our children to grow their own vegetables and then cook them to make a meal.

“This is one of the 11B411 challenges that the school would like all of our children to complete before they leave school aged 11. We would not have been able to get this project off the ground without the support of Lucy and our fantastic parents.”