On Sunday 13th August, our Patronal Festival, we marked the completion of our new Peace Garden with an outdoor dedication and blessing led by Revd Roger Dyer to conclude our Sunday Service. It was a great way to celebrate all the fantastic craftsmanship from the team at Landscaping in Aberdeen, led by David Zubernis. We were lucky to get some blue skies to enjoy the celebration and the newly planted raised bed which was designed and planted by Joanne Evans of Gerbera Designs.
This project came about as St Mary’s response to the Provincial post-COVID Recovery and Renewal initiative which was launched in June 2021. Our warmest thanks go to all of our sponsors who made this project possible:
- Provincial Recovery and Renewal Fund
- Benefact Fund
- Aberdeen City Council Place Based Investment Fund
- Donations from congregation members
We also thank and very much appreciate all the hard work from our Architect, Dave Chouman, who drew up the detailed landscaping plan, helped us through the planning process and project managed the landscaping build for us. Thanks are also due to Struan Dalgleish who helped us with the tree survey report required for the planning process. We also thank Susan Burgess, previously head gardener at Pitmedden Garden, for the initial conceptual design and drawings and to Stuart Smith of Alt Ten Interactive who assisted us with detailed digital sketches to allow the congregation to choose the final preferred design.
The St Mary’s Peace Garden is a fantastic example of outreach to the local community, and we hope that the congregation, local community, community groups and businesses all enjoy the space for many years to come.
For those that haven’t been able to follow the process of the landscaping transformation David Zubernis of Landscaping in Aberdeen has kindly provided a really fascinating video.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV9BW7rYJXE