We’re delighted to welcome our new Community Gardener, Verity Holden-Oates, to the Bircham Centre team! Her role is to continue to lead and expand our wonderful garden volunteer team and shape the continued maintenance and development of our beautiful walled garden. She’ll also help to create and deliver nature-based activities for our community, along with Matt Tebbut of Grow Naturally Norfolk, such as nature workshops for the whole family, plus individual ones for children and adults.
For the last four years she’s been part of the outstanding gardening team at the glorious East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens, a 32 acre exotic garden in by the North Norfolk coast. Coming from a successful commercial garden business to a community garden is quite a change for her but is something she’s always dreamed of doing.
What attracted her to the role was the chance to put into practice her belief in what she calls ‘grass roots gardening’, where the re-using and repurposing of plants is central. It will also give her the opportunity to encourage and inspire more people, of all ages, to feel the positive effects of being out in nature, learning skills and building the confidence to nurture their own green spaces.
Verity commented, “I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone in the garden, the existing volunteers and new faces. Please come and say ‘hello’ on a Friday morning or any other time you see me working in the garden.
