Ability Garden history

 

The NRAA Ability Garden was completed to mark our 70th Anniversary in 2011.

 

In 2006, the commitee decided to create a garden for the disabled, to be named "The Ability Garden", using un-useable plots, which were covered in brambles & swamp like due to poor drainage.

A request to Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council for permission to carry out the projest was made and their Landscape Development Officer visited our site to see what plans we had.

Based on the information collected and with the help of their Techinical Officer, a complete set of landscape drawings & plans were presented back to the commitee who agreed the project was ideal & would go ahead.

 

Applications were then made to procure the necessary funding from organisations such as Heart of England Community Foundation, Building Sustainable Neighbourhoods & many more.

This process took almost 2 years.

 

Eventually, in 2008 work started with the making of a new car park at the Lovell Road entrance to the site.

The designated unused plots, in the middle of the site were then cleared & paving slabs were laid to form a base for "Ability Garden".

 

At this time, several mini projects were achieved by our seven member volunteers who worked unselfishly with great skill, good humour & a lot of fun.

 

A large wildlife area was created & a wooden bridge built, spanning a deep pond, surrounded by safety fancing, giving access to the garden.

 

Halls Greenhouses donated a large greenhouse, suitable for wellerchair access.  This was errected & fitted with collapse-able staging.

 

A large potting/tool shed, with outside potting tables & an arbour for seating was built and murals painted by children from a school in Willenhall were hung on the back wall.

 

Bulkington Flower Club created a sensory garden, with scented and flowering plants & shrubs and a water feature was added as the side of a lawn made from astroturf.

 

Our volunteers made a living willow screen/hedge to separate the sensory garden from adjoining plots and to give privacy to garden users.

 

A number of benches made from re-cycled plasic were purchased & placed around tha garden & along thge main thoroughfare as resting places.

 

We already had a large wooden chalet on site, which is used for social events, so we built a playform in front with a large ramp to enable wheelcher access for ability users.

 

A series of wooden raised beds were built next, with various heights and sizes, to cater for all types of disability and two metal raised beds for wheelchair gardeners, enabling them to position their wheelchairs under the beds, for easy access to planting areas.

 

Basil Heatley (local Olympian), planted a symboic trea "Meta Sequoia" in the wildlife garden as a tribute to everyone who had worked on the Ability Garden and those who had contributed to the whole project.

A series of signs were also made, to inform everyone of the contributions made by volunteers, suppliesrs, contractors, sponsors & the funding organisations.

 

Previous to this project, we had already built Ladies & Gents toilets at the Asford Drive entrance to the site, with the Ladies doubling up as a disabled toilet, with the required handles & supports and adequate room for wheelchairs to be turned around.

 

January 2011 saw the final part of the prject begin, with a wide concrete path, suitable for wheelchairs, ambulatory gardeners and existing members to traverse safely between the carpark, Ability Garden & toilets.

 

The Ability Garden was officailly opened in Spring 2012 by Dignitaries from Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council