Sandside Community Gardens is a large outdoor space which is located at the bottom of Sandside and is run by a small group of volunteers. The garden project was started in 2017 where the land was taken over from the Council by a committee for the Sandside Community Gardens. Local newspapers and councillors supported the project and still do to this day. The land was cleared and the team of volunteers got hard to work developing the garden area.
So far, the committee and volunteers have created a sensory area in the garden for people that have sensory needs, the garden has space for growing produce such as tomatoes, strawberries, potatoes and lettuce and there is a small cabin for storage. The committee have many other plans that are in progress such as developing a children’s area and space for BBQ’s to be hosted in the future.
The garden helps to combat loneliness and isolation in the hopes that anyone can use it which will affect their mental health in a positive way. Paul McGregor, Chairman of the committee, approached Dumfries and Galloway Mental Health Association as they had seen that they had been donating Mindfulness Benches to local communities and felt this would be a perfect addition to the gardens.
DGMHA happily agreed and got Dumfries Mens Shed involved to build and paint the bench.
On Wednesday 10 th July the bench was delivered and a small gathering was held with friends of the garden, DGMHA and Dumfries Mens Shed. Lisa Todd, CEO at DGMHA, welcomed all and
congratulated Sandside Garden Committee for their great work in developing the gardens so far. Lisa thanked Aldo, chairman of Dumfries Men’s Shed for his involvement in building and painting the bench and presented him with a donation of £250 for the Men’s Shed.
The bench is situated in a quite corner surrounded by greenery and flowers and will be a great place for people to ‘Take some time to clear their mind’.
The garden currently opens to the public on a Tuesday between 10:30-2pm and a partner Dumfries & Galloway Recovery Together attend at 11am-1pm to help out with jobs. Everyone is welcome to pop along to enjoy the gardens and even have a cuppa with the team.
Sandside Community Gardens are looking for more volunteers to join the team to help with gardening, manual labour and to expand the public opening hours. If you are interested please pop along to enquire.
