As the weekend of the 26th/27th March drew closer, the group's plans were well under way for the work weekend to end all work weekends! In this case on our very own Swindon Sands Memorial Garden at Kingsdown Crematorium. Amongst other things we had ordered over ten tonnes of decorative chippings, sand, scalpings, cement, compost and manure as well as fence panels and posts, a skip, turf cutter, rotavator and cement mixer. Around thirty group members and their family and friends were all poised and ready to go, so we were hoping for sunshine to help us on our way, knowing that whatever the weather we would have had to have carried on anyway!
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| Jo receives the first delivery of the day, 40 bags of compost and top soil donated by Dobbies |
Fortunately the sun shone for us and there was a fantastic effort by everyone involved to complete this important second stage of the garden. The fence looks absolutely stunning and separates the garden nicely from the rest of the crematorium, the flower borders have been dug out, manure and top soil added ready for the planting extravaganza to be done next month. The gravel border where we will be laying our memory pebbles and stakes and all the bench foundations and the central patio area has been dug out, this was extremely back breaking work so extra thanks to the expert diggers and their handy pickaxes! Around one hundred metres of edging was painstakingly laid, amidst very rocky soil, and finally we laid four tonnes of decorative rose chippings in the border.
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| We discovered that the smallest people are the hardest workers! |
Such hard work needed to be fuelled so we were also treated to some lovely food. Thank you so much to the food caterers that kept us going!
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| Everyone gets stuck in! |
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| Mixing the cement - we needed reinforced concrete to support the statue that will be coming later in the year |
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| Mike from Frome Valley Landscaping lends an expert hand |
A massive thank you to all the companies that helped us out on the day, we will soon update our garden page to make sure that everyone is listed. We couldn't have done it without your help (and discounts!)
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| Exhaustion sets in! |
Thank you so much to everyone involved for all your hard work. Although there were many aching bones, all the hard work was well worth it, we were able to see the garden taking shape and by the end of the weekend were able to look at it with a sense of pride. This project has been done with so much love for our precious little babies and will be such a lovely place to go.
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| By the end of Sunday the final shape had come together - next up: planting! |
