Community garden mornings to resume thanks to Lottery funding

A community garden has been awarded more than £1,000 in funding to allow it to re-establish previously popular activities for residents and families.

The Jubilee Sensory Garden, a community space outside Thatcham Town Council’s offices, has recently been a recipient of £1,650 from the National Lottery Community Fund.

This fund means that monthly coffee mornings in the Thatcham garden, as well as activities for children next summer, can be re-established.

Thatcham Town Council will be reviving the monthly garden coffee mornings for a 12-month period, starting on Friday, September 4, and then running every first Friday of the month from 10am to noon.

These coffee mornings provide an opportunity for members of the community to come together to meet new people, share gardening expertise, learn new gardening skills and reconnect with nature in a tranquil space.

The space itself fits multiple sensory components with flowers of multiple colours, fruits and vegetables, and even a bug garden for a quiet escape.

A variety of activities tailored to the garden’s seasonal needs will be on offer at these sessions such as seed collecting, plant propagation, trimming and weeding, and much more.

An indoor wet weather option will also be available to ensure the sessions can still go ahead with alternative gardening-related activities on offer.

In addition to the monthly coffee mornings, the funding will establish a programme of six weekly sessions for up to 10 children and their families over next year’s summer holidays.

These sessions will involve opportunities for children to learn basic gardening skills, grow their confidence, and connect to nature and their local environment through interactive activities.

The Jubilee Sensory Garden opened in 2022 and has blossomed into a vibrant space with a small team of volunteer gardeners who are supported by a lead gardener who tends to the garden year-round.

In recent months, the garden has hosted a Dementia Friendly Garden Party, been a hub for activities during the launch of the Heritage Scavenger Hunt, hosted an Open Garden Session to mark Big Green Week 2026, Tai Chi classes, and a stories and rhymes session with Thatcham Library.

The garden, dubbed the Jubilee Sensory Garden, was due to open in September 2022 but was pushed back after the death of the Queen.

If you are interested in finding out more about either of these sessions, contact the town council via enquiries@thatchamtowncouncil.gov.uk or by calling (01635) 863592.