Community garden unveiled

An evening of entertainment and canapes marked the official launch of the Narrabri Community Garden at Doyle Street on Sunday.

The celebration also served as a finale of this year’s successful CREATE Festival.

Garden beds and artistic features, including a giant watering can as the centrepiece and a spider in a web, are in place as works are set to continue to unfold so the garden is ready for community use.

The Namoi Women’s Shed crafted special bunting placed around the garden for the gala opening evening.

David Pierce addressed the gathering about the garden’s purpose and thanked the many organisations and businesses which have supported the project.

Mr Pierce said the garden has been developed as a place the community can enjoy.

“I know first-hand how important and how amazing gardening can be,” he said.

“It can be a therapeutic thing to get you through tough times.”

Mr Pierce said he had fielded questions from people about how the garden will operate.

Garden beds will be allocated to the Narrabri Garden Club, Abbeyfield, Nurruby OOSH, Narrabri Dementia Friendly Town Committee, the Narrabri Filipino community, Narrabri Community Kids Childcare Centre and Centacare.

“It’s up to them to look after their garden and to keep it as we want to see it,” Mr Pierce said.

“It’s a diverse group of people from across the community.”

Mr Pierce said Sunday evening’s celebration was the launch of the facility and there was still plenty of work to do.

“All of the garden beds will be filled and we will watch them grow,” he said.

“Across the back fence, there will be a row of lilly pilly trees.”

Mr Pierce said a giant watering can in the middle of the garden will serve as a water feature. It will spill water in to a large bowl.

“Without our amazing sponsors and supporters of this project, it would never have happened,” he said.

“It has been overwhelming the amount of support we have received.”

The Rotary Club of Narrabri has helped facilitate the project, one of many community organisations part of bringing the garden to life.

Rotary assisted with sourcing government funding for the project, with then Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women, Bronnie Taylor turning the first sod at the Doyle Street site.

The Doyle Street site is an ideal spot for the garden as it is close to the town, schools and the library.

Following Mr Pierce’s explanation of the garden’s operation and thanks to supporters, Jocellin Jansson congratulated Narrabri Shire Council’s manager tourism cultural services Scott Pollock for bringing the CREATE Festival to life.

Sunday’s celebration served as the finale for this year’s festival.

“Without Scott, CREATE would never be. CREATE has added a beautiful dimension to our lives,” she said.

Ms Jansson said Mr Pollock had the ability to bring everyone together and help them to be their best.

“We didn’t want to let CREATE go without acknowledging you, Scott,” she said.

“Thank you for making our town an even more vibrant place to live, play and work.”

Mr Pollock said the success of CREATE is thanks to the many sponsors and supporters who make it possible.