Ten years ago, a committed band of green-fingered volunteers took up a call to arms to help return Devonport Park to its rightful status as the ‘People’s Park’.
Since then, every Monday morning, come rain or shine, a team of between 10 and 15 individuals, all members of the Friends of Devonport Park, turn up to tackle the shrubberies; prune the roses and tend the plants.
Expecting little more than tea and biscuits, it is estimated that the labour of the volunteers and all they have sown since 2008, is worth more than a quarter of a million pounds.
Mike Gallagher, the secretary of the Friends of Devonport Park, said their efforts should be applauded.
“All of us who come and enjoy Devonport Park owe a debt of gratitude to the gardeners,” said Mike. “Every week they’re here quietly getting on with their work whether it’s digging up the weeds, potting-on or planting out. They’ve made it a much more attractive place to visit for all of us.”
Devonport Park has been a place for ‘healthful recreation’ since the first trees were planted 160 years ago in 1858. The park underwent significant improvements after it was sold by the War Department to the Corporation of Devonport in 1891 for £5,200, transforming it into a Victorian pleasure-garden entertaining people until the Second World War when it was closed to the public and used to billet American troops.
…all they have sown since 2008, is worth more than a quarter of a million pounds.
For another 40 years the park flourished but in 1989 its last park keeper was removed and cut backs saw the 10 dedicated council gardeners reduced to two, leading to the park’s inevitable decline.
“Oh, it was in a terrible state”, said Denzil Goss, who, at 83 years old, has lived in Devonport all his life and was one of the first volunteers to support the gardens. “The park was really down-trodden: everything was dead, there were no roses, no flowers and a lot of the fountains were cracked and broken. It felt really depressing.”
Denzil, and the ‘Friends’ gardeners have played an important part in replanting, and maintaining, the park’s gardens as part of a £5m restoration plan which began in 2005 to restore the park to its former Victorian glory.
“We’ve got quite a community enterprise going on here”
The Friends of Devonport Park was founded in the same year, giving residents a voice in its future and enabling them to get on with the job of looking after it. As well as giving their time, they are also helping to raise much-needed funds to ensure the gardens look lovely all year round.
“We’ve got quite a community enterprise going on here”, said Mike. “We run four events throughout the year, which are really popular, and we raise about £50 a week in our honesty box, from the beginning of spring to the end of summer, selling plants on our barrow. Every pound we raise goes back into the gardens.”
They say that money doesn’t grow on trees but there is something to be said, here in Devonport Park, about the ‘value’ of the time the gardeners are giving: it is estimated that, over the last ten years, the number of volunteers, the hours they have donated, and the hourly rate adds up to more than £300,000.
But as Dr Lynda Rodwell, an ecological economist from the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Plymouth, said, the true value of the gardeners’ labours is beyond measure.
over the last ten years, the number of volunteers, the hours they have donated, and the hourly rate adds up to more than £300,000.
“Volunteering generally is well-known to contribute significantly to the economy,” says Dr Rodwell. “Urban gardens are known to provide a multitude of ecosystem services including well-being and health benefits so clearly the Devonport park volunteers are enhancing these services which is benefiting the community and they are also demonstrating and encouraging environmental stewardship. A win all around!”
Since its creation in 1858, Devonport Park has provided generations of local families with a much-loved green space, an area for sports and recreation and a place to escape and reflect. Thanks largely to the Friends of Devonport Park, and the efforts of its gardeners, Devonport Park remains “an attractive place of resort, which will be free for all classes”.
The Friends of Devonport Park will be hosting Proms in the Park with the Royal Naval Volunteer Band and the Calstock Rubber Band performing in the bandstand on Sunday the September 16 between 12 noon and 5.00pm.
If you would like more information on the Friends of Devonport Park please contact Mike Gallagher on 07510 422324 or email: mw_gallagher@hotmail.com
