Beneficiaries

Sun shines on school’s garden

We purchased wheelchair swings, a summerhouse and some garden seating to enhance the garden at Percy Hedley's Leybourne Residential Unit in Killingworth.

A green haven has bloomed after hard work by children at Percy Hedley. The Leybourne Garden has sprung up at the Children’s Residential Unit in Killingworth.
Children at the unit, which is a home from home for up to 20 children who go to the nearby Percy Hedley School, set up a garden committee to come up with plans to rejuvenate an old and unused outdoor area.

They had quite a project on their hands. The large grassed area behind the Leybourne unit was in need of a severe facelift. It needed to be attractive as well as accessible to children in wheelchairs.

Pupils on the committee came up with lots of ideas for the garden, including a barbecue area, a pond, decking, a wheelchair swing, raised flower beds that wheelchair-users can tend, sensory plants and trees to appeal to all the senses, multi-coloured solar-powered lights, a summer house and garden furniture.

With the plans drawn up by the children, the Sunshine Fund agreed to provide £16,500 to make their wishes come true and renovation work on what has become known as the Sunshine Garden began in March 2007, and finished in time for an official opening in July 2007.

The garden was also supported by the National Grid Killingworth, who also provided volunteers to help plant the garden, RW Mann Trust, National Lottery Awards for All, Westfield School and Metro Radio.


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