St Mary Longcot Memorial Garden

Following on from millenium celebrations a sum of money was available for another village project. There were several suggestions and in 2001 a project put forward by Judi Stretton was chosen. The aim of which was to manage the rather neglected Longcot churchyard as a wildlife 'garden'. Involving a large number of volunteers from the village the project, coordinated by Judi, began. The volunteers met for monthly workparties to tackle different tasks: compost areas were improved, native hedging and  a 'woodland edge area were planted and a grass mowing plan was introduced. Later a memorial garden was created with new path and planted with many wildlife friendly plant species.

To achieve different projects fund raising events were organised and grants obtained. this enabled the mending of the perimeter walls, buying a new mower and aquiring a redundant shipping container for secure storage of equipment.

During her time in Longcot Judi meticulously recorded the progress of the churchyard project. She wrote diaries, produced species lists of the wildlife and took many excellent photographs. The project was recognised beyond the village by winning several awards.

Meeting on the first Sunday of each month a group of volunteers continue to maintain the churchyard.

To learn more see additional documents in the archive.

To read a copy of Judi's work on the project go HERE