By Jim Corah
Kirkstall in Bloom have plans to celebrate this summer, as the community gardening group will be celebrating 11 years of volunteering in the heart of Kirkstall.
At 6.30pm on Tuesday 25 July 2023 residents of Kirkstall, present and past volunteers, as well as all the friends we’ve made since the beginning are invited to gather and celebrate. Bring your own food to enjoy or share.
Secretary Jim Corah said: “Volunteering needs to be fun, and rather than celebrating our ten-year anniversary in 2023, we opted to embrace a prime birthday with 11.
“Unfortunately we will miss having a stall at this year’s Kirkstall Festival so this is our way of celebrating with the public.”
Before the celebration there are two gardening sessions planned. On Saturday 3 June Kirkstall in Bloom will meet at 10.30am to get beds ready at the Drink And Be Grateful Fountain Garden for the summer, while on Saturday 24 June at the same time they will be continue the good work.
Kirkstall In Bloom will then switch to evening sessions over July and August hoping to recruit new volunteers with shorter ‘taster’ events.
The first of these evenings will be Tuesday 11 July 2023 meeting at 6.30pm at the Drink And Be Grateful Fountain Garden. As with all Kirkstall in Bloom events, everyone is welcome, no experience is necessary and tools and gloves will be provided.
Established in 2012 with the help of then councillor Lucinda Yeadon and the Kirkstall Village Community Association, the group have been welcoming new volunteers to their sites at the centre of Kirkstall.
The first and main site is the Drink And Be Grateful Fountain Garden, with the Cenotaph, Latent Power sculpture mound and bed outside Kirkstall Leisure Centre, and planters at Kirkstall Forge Station.