Amazing community team effort raises funds for New Mills & District Volunteer Centre

The annual Plant Sale fundraiser is orchestrated by our NMVC volunteer, Olwen Liddiard from Hayfield. Her garden is taken over six months of the year for the benefit of people in the community. She gathers seeds in the autumn, propagates from cuttings and sows the seeds in the spring. Olwen is very well known for hosting this kind of event and has a great reputation for selling quality, hardy annuals and bedding plans.

Olwen said: “I have always had a love of gardening and with extra help and support from the volunteer gardeners and staff at NMVC I have managed to bring on lots of plants. I feel I am putting my knowledge of horticulture to good use and help support local charities”.

Fiona Stanier, Befriending Coordinator from NMVC commented, “We are extremely fortunate that Olwen has chosen to dedicate her time to raising funds for the volunteer centre to help people who are struggling maintain their independence. Our fantastic volunteer gardeners gave up their time and efforts to work with Olwen during the growing period and were also on hand to help out at the event.”

Fiona continued “I would like to say a huge thank you to Jason Ruffell (Senior Site Manager), and all the team from SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK at Waterswallows. SUEZ kindly arranged the donation and delivery of 40 bags of compost at the beginning of the season to Hayfield, and provided support on the day for the plant sale.”

Organisers also thanked the Co-op in New Mills for the way they haave helped the centre in so many ways over the past few years. This year they allowed them to use the store car park again.

When the plant sale finished, a massive £2,000 had been taken on the day. The Volunteer Centre relies on local fundraising events to run; its transport service taking people to medical appointments, social groups, befriending conversations, community group support, signposting generally and providing a helping hand to anyone who needs. The service would not be here without the support and help from volunteers.