Friends of Mawsons Garden, Silverdale

Friends Group - The Background

In 2014 Brian Smith purchased the garden, originally part of the Grey Walls Estate. It had been largely abandoned for over 50 years and was totally overgrown. It is amazing now to see what Brian has achieved, with incredible vision, blood, sweat and tears and a small band of dedicated helpers including members of the Landscape Trust and and the Horticultural Society. A beautiful Mawson garden has emerged.

Along with renovating the garden, Brian has a vision for the garden to be shared more widely and used for the benefit of local groups and organisations particularly for the improvement of mental health and connection to nature and the outdoors.

In order to realise these ambitions, more help is needed! We need your help in creating a strong Friends group to get more help in the garden to ensure it can fulfil its potential and to connect with other groups for mutual benefit.

Caring for the 2000m2 of lawns, the acres of woodland, the large areas of flower beds and rockeries now in cultivation

Getting involved in new garden projects

Volunteer facilities, path maintenance and accessibility improvements

Research the work of Thomas Mawson and put the garden on the map.

Help with running the Friends group

Visits to Thomas Mawson gardens, parks and other related gardens.

Organise regular local visits to the garden and events for special groups

Publicity and fundraising

Developing closer links with other local groups and organisations

Secure the future of Mawson's garden at Grey Walls, Silverdale.

As well as new members to help with practical work there is also a very real need for the backing of Friends who are prepared to support the Group in spirit and financially. Over and above the cost of the project work, there are overheads to be met for insurance, training, facilities, tools, display materials and incidentals. The subscription to become a Friend is free for 2025.

As a Friend you become a full member of the Group with special access to the Garden. You will receive the Annual Report and seasonal newsletters together with occasional updates on live issues. You will also be first to hear about planned events including talks and outings and members only gatherings in the garden. You will also have a vote at the AGM to have a say in the organisation.

A small committee of up to 10 members run the charitable group, be the focal point for communications and to coordinate activities, further members welcome. Please email committee.fomgs@gmail.com

The Facebook page “Friends of Mawsons Garden, Silverdale” has been set up to raise awareness of the group and activities. Please ‘like’ the page and post your favorite pics! Our instagram account is https://www.instagram.com/mawsonsgarden/

The Whatsapp group "Mawsons Volunteers" is now live. This is to allow volunteers to communicate with each other if they wish eg to work together, to get a few helpers for a particular job, share news etc.

You can join the group here: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K9Ari4WKO0a2wdWE7mOnKC

If you are not already a newsletter subscriber you can can sign up here :

http://eepurl.com/icEU6z.

Brian Smith and Friends