Community garden opens in city park

A community garden designed to be a place where people can learn new skills has opened to the public.

The scheme in a previously underused corner of Sunderland's Mowbray Park was completed having received £180,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

It was officially opened by Mayor of Sunderland Allison Chisnall at a ribbon cutting event attended by local school children.

Activities for children will take place in the garden during the school holidays, while an upcoming community programme will aim to create art to be displayed in its grounds.

Pupils from Hudson Road Primary School attended the opening and performed harvest festival songs to mark the occasion.

"They played their own special role in creating the garden by donating wild flower seeds at the very beginning of the project," Chisnall said.

"I hope they'll continue to cherish the garden and come back to enjoy it for many years to come."

Work on the garden began in June and since then a number of edible crops have been grown from seed and harvested by community volunteers.

The garden was created to give people a place to learn new skills, spend time in nature and make connections, the council said.

Beth Jones, councillor for Washington Central, said: "Local people have been involved in the community garden right from the start, from helping to shape its design to having a say in the plants they wanted to see growing there.

"So it's very much a garden which has been created for the community by the community."

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