EFFORTS to build a sensory garden for the community have received a boost after a fundraising campaign by a former mayor and a local councillor.

Hope Garden is a project within the grounds of St John Fisher Church, off Manchester Road, Kearsley, to make a sensory garden to offer support to local residents with dementia and their carers.

This project was started earlier in the year by the Friends of Kearsley Mount Cottage, who run community initiatives in the grounds of the church, but these plans had to be put on hold due to the coronavirus outbreak.

During this time Kearsley councillor Mark Cunningham raised money by selling raffle tickets and through other efforts, in order to help get the project back on its feet.

This was in conjunction with previous Mayor of Bolton Hilary Fairclough’s Big Raffle where an agreement was made between the two that half of the money from Cllr Cunningham’s ticket sales would go to the mayor’s charities, with the other half going to help finish the garden project when it could restart.

Cllr Cunningham was able to raise a total of £700 through the raffle, along with other money fundraised, to give to the garden project.

He said: “St John Fisher Church has lovely gardens and we wanted to make a specific area for people to come and sit out where we could offer refreshments and possible events and entertainment for them.

“As the project developed, interest has grown from other groups including children’s groups, those with physical disabilities, and from schools who would like to visit as a learning resource, and we want to be part of getting a really good message out to the community about the small things they can do which will make a difference,” he added.

The garden will include a learning area for children to look after plants and vegetables they have grown themselves and there is also an area with scented flowers along with a coloured pencil wall and tactile mosaics which have been chosen to appeal to people with dementia.

Hope Garden was originally intended to be completed by now and officially opened by the Right Rev John Arnold, Bishop of Salford.

Ass lockdown eases it is intended to invite the bishop back to open the garden at the earliest opportunity so it can get up and running as soon as possible.

Cllr Cunningham said: “We plan to offer specific hospitality to certain groups who would benefit from being able to find much-needed respite in our sensory garden, which will be a community garden for them to enjoy.

“All the volunteers involved in making the garden did a great job.

"It was a great team effort all the way from the people who helped design it to those who also did the hard manual work to complete the lovely garden,” he added.