Grant plants seeds for Bunbury community garden’s sensory plan

Volunteers at Thommo’s Community Garden will be able to expand the garden to become more inclusive, thanks to a $1000 donation from Westpac Bunbury.

The garden team welcomed the community grant on Tuesday and volunteer Lisa Ferris said the grant would help them to establish a new sensory garden to allow more people to get involved.

“We’re absolutely thrilled Westpac have come on board and given us this grant,” she said.

We intend to make a sensory herb garden so people with limited visibility and other things can enjoy, but we can also make teas out of the herbs and also teach people what herbs to use for what.

Ms Ferris said it would take them a short while to organise the project, but they have already started gathering herbs.

“I’ve got a basic design drawn and now we can start getting everything together,” Ms Ferris said.

“I think it’ll be really good for a lot of people — it’s really exciting.”

Westpac Bunbury bank manager Tara Newbey said the garden was a great local organisation for Bunbury residents to enjoy.

“We really wanted to rally behind them and show our support, especially at a time where we know lots of local organisations have faced some challenges,” Ms Newbey said.

We hope we’ve been able to play a small part in helping them through this period so they can continue providing our community with a beautiful place to go and enjoy the fresh air.

Ms Ferris said Thommo’s Community Garden was a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers.

“We have 46 garden beds that we lease to individuals and community groups,” Ms Ferris said.

“The volunteers manage the rest of the garden and we grow about 100kg of vegetables a week for Foodbank.”

Ms Ferris said the garden was always looking for more volunteers and to contact 0428 969 868 for more information.