Pupils at a Cambridge primary school were shocked and upset when vandals broke into their school gardens and cut down trees with a chainsaw. Newnham’s gardeners came to the rescue, co-ordinating replacement shrubs and trees, and joining locals to replant the woodland area.
Lottie Collis, Newnham’s Head Gardener, heard about the vandalism from her sister Alex Collis, who represents King’s Hedges on Cambridge City Council, and immediately offered to help.
Alex explained, “Not only did Newnham donate replacement shrubs and trees, but they also sent along Alicia and Paul, two of their team of gardeners to oversee the replanting – and got some of the other colleges involved too. We really can’t thank them enough.”
Head Gardeners at Christ’s (Sergio Ballarin), King’s (Steve Coghill) and Robinson (Guy Fuller) all chipped in too, even donating some birch trees to fill the gap left by the vandals.
All four Kings Hedges councillors rolled their sleeves up and got to work digging alongside the pros. And, as befits the sister of a Cambridge gardener, Alex knows that the work isn’t done when the trees are in the ground.
“We’ve promised to go along in the holidays and make sure they’re kept watered too,” she tells us.