Friends of Library Gardens
After our successful community campaign to save our Library Gardens from becoming a car park, it felt right to continue driving energy into this beautiful space.
Working with the Street Scene team from Newark and Sherwood District Council, we’ve formed a ‘Friends of Newark Library Gardens’ group to bring together dedicated volunteers to look after our urban oasis.
After our initial public survey to see what future the people of Newark wanted for this site, making it more accessible and more wildlife-friendly came out as the top two priorities. So let’s see what impact our volunteers are making already….
Darren, Darrell and David (aka the Three Ds) planted lots of native hedging in the spring sunshine.
Lots of the grassy areas have been left unmowed, resulting in a wealth of wild plants, including celandine, bluebells, scilla, and violets.
We’ve planted a gorgeous little Field Maple tree to symbolise the garden's fresh new start and bright future. The tree was donated by Darren Riley on behalf of his baby grandson, Ambrose. Darren was a legend of the monitor group thanks to all the hours he put in guarding the trees during the campaign. Darren says: "Ambrose's tree is lovely. It'll be amazing to let him see it grow in years to come. Though, it's everyone's tree. You all made this happen."
Three young Newark and Sherwood District Council apprentices have removed the garden slabs to free the grounds again! The sandstone underneath has been broken up and piled high for NSDC to take away.
Some of the broken pavers along with twigs and fallen branches from the library trees have been used to create a large bug hotel at the rear of the garden.
The team are planning a trip to Langar wildflower Gardens to choose some native wildflower plants and seeds. As soon as we have these we will start creating areas to plant. Some of the team also have some plants which we hope to start planting next week.
Library Gardens has also been entered into Newark in Bloom, which is judged by the RHS, sometime in July. We have been promised a marquee to put in the gardens, where we will display photos etc and tell our story. We’re also hoping to make some bug hotel kits to give away/sell on the day. Stay tuned for more updates.
New bird boxes are up on some of the trees, which have already recieved some visitors!
We’re also hoping to have a garden designer onsite soon.
We are thrilled to see love and energy pouring back into this site and are so thankful for the community victory that has protected this space for the people of Newark to enjoy forever!
However, along with all this good news, we have sad news too. Unfortunately, the false acacia at the back of the garden has recently been felled, due to root disease. We’re all devastated to lose the false acacia. As a campaign group, we fought so hard to save ALL the trees in the Library Garden and to lose one is an undeniable blow. However, please be assured that the garden and the other trees are safe and that we are determined to honour the false acacia’s legacy in several ways including:
🌳 We’ve had a wonderful bench and two ‘story-telling’ chairs made from the tree’s trunk. We hope many people will enjoy sitting here and spending time with the tree.
🌳 We’ll be using some of the wood to build bird boxes and bug hotel kits.
🌳 We are hoping to leave the stump in place for it to be made into a seat.
🌳 We will create a log pile from the tree left to rot - a crucial but declining habitat in Nottinghamshire to hundreds of insects and birds.
We have so many exciting plans for our precious green space and we can't wait to share more with you. Follow more updates over at our Facebook page.
