Wade Centre Garden Party

After months of hard work a new garden at The Highland Council’s Wade Centre in Kingussie was opened today (Monday 20th June) by local Highland Councillor Gregor Rimell.

To celebrate the opening, staff at the Wade Centre held a garden party attended by all those who helped to develop the garden.

Pupils in Primary 3 at Kingussie Primary helped to bring colour to the garden at the Wade Centre through their hard work planting pots and barrels.  As part of the project the pupils also made a trip to the traditional garden at the Highland Folk Museum to discover the plants growing there.  They have also been learning and writing songs and poems about plants and gardens with their teacher and the class shared these at the garden party.

Patricia Lockhart, Head Teacher at Kingussie Primary School said: “The children thoroughly enjoyed the project and benefited very much from the opportunity to mix with the wider community.”

Joining the pupils from Kingussie Primary School and the clients of the Wade Centre were the Waders who donated barrels and a water feature. Also in attendance were staff of the Wade Centre who have worked hard in making the garden happen, as well as representatives of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, who funded the project, the Heather Centre, who supplied the plants, and the Highland Folk Museum and Countryside Ranger service, who worked with the pupils on the garden project.

All those at the Wade Centre would like to thank those involved and especially Knights Rural Services who have worked very hard to ensure the project has been completed in the short time available.

Councillor Rimell who is also a board member of the Cairngorms National park Authority (CNPA) said: “This has been a fantastic effort by all those involved. It demonstrates perfectly how partnership working within the Council across services and with external agencies and private business can bring together great results for the community.”

The Wade Centre project was one of 49 projects assisted by the CNPA under the National Park Communities in The National Park grant scheme. It also helped release funding through the European LEADER+ programme.

Rhona Hamilton, Highland Council’s Education and Outreach Officer said: “I hope that the pupils will continue their relationship with the Wade Centre and its garden to keep the garden and these links within the community alive.  This is hopefully just the beginning to inter-generational work between the museum, and young and older members of the community.”