The Jubilee Garden came about as a result of The Millennium Commission supported by The Royal Bank of Scotland’s donation of £1.5 million to The Parkinson Disease Society. This money was to be then used as grants of between £2000 and £5000 for people in the community who suffered with Parkinson’s disease to create something that would benefit others in the community and would challenge the creator of the project.
Mike Smith, a resident in Forest Row since 1969 and who has had PD since 1994 decided that this was just what he needed as he was at the time recovering from Cancer and he wanted something to focus on. Mike applied to the Parish Council to see if they had any land on which he could develop. Fortunately they had a piece of land at the end of the car park at the Community Centre and that is now known as the Jubilee Garden.
He submitted his plan to the PDS in July 2002 and in October of that year he started the project. With the help of some friends the work was finished in April the following year, of course it is an ongoing garden and Mike tries to add something new each year. The garden has good wheelchair access, plenty of seats, water feature, rose garden, conservation area, willow wigwam and some raised beds. Also there are some bird boxes, one of which has a miniature camera in it which is linked to the children’s playground. In the summer the garden has many hanging baskets. Last year the garden was entered into The South East in Bloom Competition where it received a Silver Gilt Award in the small parks section.
Many people are still discovering this small garden and as one entry reads in the visitors book ‘You have managed to create an Oasis in a mad mad World ‘. Why don’t you discover this for yourself and see if you agree?
