Skelmorlie community garden project is going from strength to strength

Now Billie Walker, 71, who is one of the budding volunteers behind the garden, is calling for anyone in the village who can help with either materials, tools, or just to provide a helping hand - to come along and contribute.

At the beginning of the pandemic when people were scared and worried about how they were going to be affected a local lady Eleanor McVicker, who was ill herself at the time, spent her good days painting stones and with the assistance of her husband Paul and faithful dog Smudge delivered them to children and adults in the village who needed cheering up.

Garden outlook (Image: Newsquest)

Billie explained: "Eleanor then got the village involved by encouraging them to look for strategically placed stones while out walking which was all we could really do at the time. 

"Moving forward we've then had the Stone Snake at the entrance to the park and individuals, families and groups were involved adding painted stones. Sadly we lost Eleanor far too soon and as she had done so much for the village it was felt that some sort of memorial should be there to thank her for all her hard work and keeping us all positive. 

"We contacted North Ayrshire Council to ask about the possibility of taking over an area for people to go, not only to remember this lovely special lady and all her work in keeping us all upbeat during such a difficult time, but for people to get together or just to be on their own.

"This has taken longer than was anticipated but thanks to the help to our volunteers we are slowly getting the garden up and running. 

Garden perspective on a summers day (Image: Newsquest)

"It has to be added that without these people the garden would not be coming to fruition. 

"We receive no funding for this and everything has been donated to the garden from plants, pots benches and most importantly time. 

"While it is nice to see people commenting on the garden please be aware this is all being done by volunteers and although suggestions have been made it is not always possible to follow these through due to lack of funds. 

"As Eleanor was always keen to involve the children we have had a stone painting day at the garden where our budding artists had a ball and we hope to do more of these including making dream catchers, so any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

"Without the help of volunteers, we would not have been able to get to where we are. 

"This will be ongoing for years to come we hope so please show an interest, some to the garden have a blether, read a book or just chill out."

Billie says that the community garden is working closely with the primary school and the local Scout group so it is an all round community project - with hopes for new murals, and other art and design.

Garden bench is beautifully decorated with paintings of local birdlife (Image: Newsquest)

The eye-catching bench designs showcase the local birdlife, and Thistles, and were donated, with the talented Sheila Adamson painting the benches.

Thanks also go to Pauly Dee (Eleanor's husband) and Jamie Craig and the Explorer Scouts for tap and benches, Isy Agnew, Maureen Kelly and Margaret Spence, Ian Agnew and Frank Kelly with watering and George Bryce the local bus driver for keeping everyone supplied with bottles of water during the hot spells, and a thank you to neighbours for allowing garden users to use their water supply while waiting for the tap.