Plans in place to bring
IT’S time we gave a huge round of applause to the volunteers at the Botanic Gardens in Churchtown in Southport, as they finally begin to celebrate the hope of sunnier days ahead.
These incredible people stepped in to ensure that this historic Grade II Listed park remained a place for families to enjoy when austerity kicked in a decade ago leading to seven gardeners losing their jobs and the Botanic Gardens Museum being shut.
One of the jewels of the North West first opened to visitors in 1874 and has been enjoyed by millions of people since.
The volunteers wanted to make sure it could delight future generations too.
They have committed tens of thousands of hours since then into keeping it looking blooming brilliant, as they waited for the cavalry to arrive.
Hope now lies ahead. Sefton Council has given its backing to developing a new major development scheme for Botanic Gardens and to begin exploring possible funding streams, with a figure of £5million being suggested.
Officers will now work with the volunteers from the Botanic Gardens Community Association and others to make their ‘vision’ become a reality.
They say a number of possibilities exist: The historic Botanic Gardens Museum could become a new hotel and wedding venue; boating could return to the lake; a new cafe could open on the northern edge. Other new attractions could include: a Victorian carousel, heritage fairground attractions, butterfly house, cactus house, and a destination scale play area attraction and high ropes course. Cleaning the lake and restoring the park’s infrastructure is urgently needed.
Botanic Gardens Community Association Chair David Cobham said: “We had an inkling that this was going to happen. It is great news.
“We are delighted to see them now talking about finally putting some money into the Botanic Gardens, which hasn’t happened for 20 years.
“It is a much-loved place. The Botanic Gardens is a massive part of Southport’s heritage.”
David and Ann Cobham and the other volunteers stepped in to carry out essential maintenance at the Botanic Gardens back in 2011 when Sefton axed four full-time gardening staff, including Nursery Manager Alan Foxall.
They closed the Botanic Gardens Museum in the same year, as part of a huge austerity drive in Sefton and across the UK following the banking crash in 2008.
A further three Botanic Gardens gardening staff were made redundant in 2015. The volunteers now work with the much-depleted Green Sefton team, which is deployed to parks and greenspaces across the borough.
In the decade since 2011, the volunteers have given blood, sweat and tears into ensuring that the park looks stunning for families and visitors of all ages - their efforts recognised by their Outstanding Awards in the Britain in Bloom Awards in recent years.
They have planted flowers and shrubs; secured sponsorship to pay for them; carried out weeding and littering; kept the toilets open and running; kept the fernery open; organised events such as the annual Victorian Gala and brass band Sundays; and carried out 101 other jobs in between.
They have saved the Aviary by raising money to support the running costs and pay for major renovations and provide some staffing.
During the past 10 years they have