Coventry 4 Good grant beneficiaries, Friends of Spencer Park have made excellent use of the funding, ensuring they have the right tools for the job and plenty of volunteers to complete the task. 

Helen Elias from the group said ‘We are extremely grateful for the grant for gardening equipment for our volunteer gardeners in Spencer Park. Up to now we have been relying on people bringing their own tools which is inconvenient and puts off those who do not have the tools from helping out.

Our gardening has been progressing well. Throughout the year we meet on the first Saturday morning of each month and in the summer months we have been gardening every other Thursday evening when we have been using the tools.  In addition we had a Big Park Clean Up in April for an hour on a Saturday, with the incentive of free bacon batches and tea.  That attracted a good crowd and a lot of tidying up was achieved throughout the park.  We have a second session planned for October so the tools will be very useful.  We have also had two sessions of help from the Good Gym who combine running with outdoor work.  We have had volunteers working towards their Duke of Edinburgh award helping out with gardening.  In addition we have cleared a space for Earlsdon Primary School to garden and once we have our container installed they will also be able to use some of the equipment rather than carrying it all up from the school.’