Article written by Rosi Jordon.
It’s now almost two years since local group Sustainable Three Rivers CIC (S3R) built Rickmansworth’s very first community garden in the orchard. During this time the garden has gone from strength to strength, tended by a team of loyal volunteers who cultivate vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers. The S3R team has also spent over a year working with TRDC to restore and improve the rose garden. Plants are now mainly climate resilient and pollinator- friendly, improving biodiversity and attracting a wide variety of insects and birds. All of us at S3R are grateful to RDRA for their recent generous donation, enabling our highly valued work to continue. Various resources such as gardening tools, bulbs, seeds, soil, bug pots and magnifying glasses have been bought, not only for use in the community and rose gardens, but also for workshops in local schools. Over the last few months S3R has also run a popular winter fruit tree pruning workshop and a very enjoyable story time and bug hunting session for young children, in collaboration with Rickmansworth library. At the beginning of May a workshop on how to plant a pollinator- friendly summer hanging basket is being held and is proving very popular. Finally, we were delighted by the response to our recent nature-themed art competition, aimed at brightening up a subway in Rickmansworth. With the support of two local Herts councillors, the subway has been transformed into a much more attractive, welcoming place, reminding residents of the importance of living more sustainably. So, many thanks to RDRA for your support. We’re very grateful and look forward to developing more sustainability-linked projects over the next year.
