Lymington Open Gardens raises thousands for St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery

MORE than a dozen delightful Lymington gardens opened to the public to raise over £8,500 for the St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery.

The popular bi-annual Lymington Open Gardens event is organised by the Friends of St Barbe and is one of the museum’s major fundraising events. Despite dire weather predictions more than 600 people bought tickets to explore 13 stunning gardens around the town.

Event spokesperson Pam Perry said: “As a charity the museum relies heavily on sponsorship and fundraising to support its work, whether that be developing its collections, mounting nationally recognised art exhibitions or providing an extensive outreach programme to all sections of the community.

“The museum’s focus is to put the community at the heart of everything we do and this event, in our 25th anniversary year, raised more than £8,500 to allow us to continue this work.”

This year 13 gardens took part including Moore Barlow Lawyers, Chawton House Surgery and Belmore Lodge Care Home. The gardens ranged from small courtyard gardens to those with more expansive lawned areas, with raised beds, vegetables, ponds and pergolas featuring.

In the weeks leading up the open event Shirley and Andrew Foster ran a plant sales stall which contributed over £1,000 towards the total raised. The St Barbe Museum also had its own plant stall outside the United Reformed Church with donations from Shallowmead Nurseries, Everton Nurseries, Copeside and Northfield Nurseries and Bashley Plant Centre. Many volunteers also supplied plants to sell.

Refreshments were available at the United Reformed Church and the museum’s Old School Café.

Pam added: “Not one penny of this £8,500 could have been achieved without the enthusiastic support of the garden owners and a small army of volunteers.

“To all those who baked cakes, grew plants, served teas and acted as gate stewards on the day, we say a big thank you. It was a hugely enjoyable afternoon, bringing crowds of people to the streets of the town on a quiet Sunday afternoon – a real community event.”