Top Garden Ramble
By Pauline Stewart
The Mercury Bay Garden Ramble, “Through the Garden Gate” was a fantastic success. It ran for two days, Saturday, 4 and Sunday, 5 November across 15 gardens. To start with the success, The Mercury Bay Lions Club had perfect weather- blue sky, no wind. That was the part they could not organise. Everything else the women could apply their organisation and passion; and they did. Their preparation around the entire community was detailed and inviting and as a result, the Lions Club sold over 300 tickets, with quite a few being sold beyond Whitianga and the Coromandel Peninsula, bringing people into the town. The gardens were such a variety of formal and relaxed country; of new gardens and well-established ones and every garden was inviting with extra touches -artistic, even quirky additions. I am sure the occupants of each home worked hard for extra hours to bring their final touches – nothing like a stream of visitors to tidy up and catch up on long awaited projects. The café offered excellent service in a garden setting and not only scones with jam and cream, but home-made cakes. Then there was the plant stall and helpful people on hand to advise on the right kind of plants for the garden.
The ticket for entry to the Garden Ramble was an attractive booklet complete with map and description of each garden. On arrival, the booklet was stamped - it was like having a Disneyland Passport. All of the sponsors were generously recognised in the booklet.
Rambling is quite a ‘winding-down’ experience, so that was another benefit made possible by the Mercury Bay Lions Club Garden Ramble.
Finally, and this is the big one; the purpose was to raise money for the Mammogram Project. Knowing the amount of money raised is still a few days away, but we will be sure to make that known.
Project Mammogram, now in its second year of fund raising, is led by the Whitianga Lions Club but the two local Lions Clubs are partners in this project, which will bring about a very necessary addition to medical services in the Coromandel Peninsula, specifically Mercury Bay. Thank you to the women of Mercury Bay Lions Club and all they do for this community. Thank you to the 15 homes for inviting the public to come and enjoy and be inspired by the gardens they had created.