Saltways Leonard Cheshire Memorial 

Garden Comes to Life

Kingfisher Rotary knew there was a need to enhance outdoor space at the Saltways residential centre here in Redditch. With an architect, accountant, enthusiastic gardeners and DIY experts we were set to take on the fantastic community challenge of creating a new memorial garden.

The plans were drawn up and the project mapped out but what about the money? Raising funds is often the key challenge in meeting a community need and as meeting community needs is what Rotary is all about, it’s a challenge we are very familiar with!

One of the great parts of being in a Rotary group is having the opportunity to come together creatively to work out how we are going to sort out an issue; in this case it was the fundraising part that was our issue to sort out! With our creative thinking caps on we decided to approach the wider Rotary community across the Heart of England and secured a £500 grant, we asked Leonard Cheshire Disability for a little help and they too committed to a £500 contribution but we were still sort of our necessary target by some £800...

One thing we enjoy in Rotary is having fun so for this challenge we decided to host a competitive fun night at the Phoenix Scalextric Circuit in Studley. Circuit Owner Jon has helped us in the past and he was as keen as ever to step up again to support this fundraising evening. We approached local businesses and asked them to supply a team of five ‘drivers’ and with six teams in place we were all set to go. On 17^th May we geared up and the Rotary Scalextrix Competition was underway!

With support from the 50 people or so that were there that night we reached our fundraising target so were ready to set to and get to work on the garden. There was site clearing, hole digging, wood cutting, raised bed building, fence and trellis erecting to do before we could even start to think about planting! The work is well underway now and we can see the garden shaping up into a place of relaxation and enjoyment for the residents and carers alike. A great feeling of achievement...

We have one final challenge remaining to locate a large number of concrete slabs for the creation of wheelchair accessible pathways but with continued support from local businesses we will soon have completed this great project.