Aside from tending to our green areas and trees, our local office and Grounds Maintenance staff consult with residents about their surroundings, to help them take pride in their area and its overall appearance by creating community gardens and flower beds.
Our Grounds Maintenance team have been working with Enagh Youth Forum to share some gardening skills and visually enhance the area near the youth club with trees and shrubs the young people have helped to plant.
Enagh Youth Forum are very active in the area, and their youth club is a positive hub where kids of all ages can get together, learn and have fun.
Paul Hughes, Youth & Community Development Worker with Enagh Youth Forum, has worked in the local community for many years. He worked with us to engage the young people to tidy up the estate and introduce plants in some green spaces. He said:
“Enagh Youth Forum would like to thank the Housing Executive’s Grounds Maintenance team who have helped spruce up the local area this summer.
“The young people really enjoyed helping to plant the community garden at Parkmore Drive, and it was great to get the Tiny Tots Community Play Group involved too, who helped re-plant the shrub beds at Clonmeen Drive.
“These projects have helped promote pride of place in the local community and is very much appreciated by the community.”
You can see from the pictures that the Tiny Tots Community Play Group had a great time learning what to do with plants and have been coming back to see how ‘their’ plants are growing.
Housing Executive Grounds Maintenance Supervisor for the area, Marty Wheeler, was happy with the reaction from the young people after their planting lesson. He said:
“Gardening and outdoor maintenance is something our young people may know very little about, especially if they live in towns and cities. Small projects like this one in Strathfoyle not only improve the area, it provides an avenue for learning that is not usually available.
“It’s great that the children of Strathfoyle had a really positive experience planting with us.
“Grounds Maintenance staff will continue to work with residents in their communities to enhance the green areas and make estates a welcoming place to live and visit.”
