St Mary’s, Partington has been awarded the highest “Level 5 – Outstanding Award” by the Royal Horticultural Society, for the transformation of a previously neglected area of the churchyard.
Working two mornings a week, a team of a dozen regular volunteers and others from the church and across the community, envisioned the garden as an oasis of calm in a busy town, and a means to communicate the life of the church and the hope of the gospel.
The Revd Andrew Knight, Priest-in-Charge, says: "Walk through and you’ll see a colourful rainbow of spring bulbs and then summer annuals proclaiming the glory of God and a promise that his mercy will bring us through the most troubled of times. A wooden cross is surrounded by the blue flowers of forget-me-nots to remind us to do just that, and beneath the words “God so loved the world” are picked out in stones. Step aside and a stretch of sand is surrounded by red foliage representing Moses’ burning bush. Then opposite, the latest addition is a wooden table, cup and bowl for the Last Supper surrounded by 12 red fuchsias and a white rose. The judges were deeply moved by the life and vitality of a garden, full of wildlife, colour and stories within a churchyard, places they often thought of as rather dour. The churchyard is now a talking point for the town, visited daily by members of the community to rest, remember and pray, and by numerous school and community groups."
St. Mary’s Church hope their work may serve as an inspiration for other churches to see the value in making more of their churchyards for mission and community engagement.
View more of the photographs on Diocese of Chester's Facebook page.
