Ruth Fleming, vice chair of the Douglasdale Business and Residents Forum and chair Susan Mottram.
It was a hot day in the sun for the Douglasdale Business and Residents Forum, but they enjoyed every minute and were overjoyed by the results on 11 February when they dug deep to improve the gardens in Douglasdale Central.
“Although we were sweaty and dishevelled from digging and cleaning for three-and-a-half hours, we were, indeed, vivacious in our volunteerism at the Dougladale Business and Residents Forum Verge Revamp,” quipped Susan Mottram, the forum chairperson.
“We came, we saw, we conquered! We love how our intersection looks and we know that these gardens have discouraged urban decay in Douglasdale central. We’ve been told by a number of estate agents over the years that these gardens at the intersection of Douglas Drive and Leslie Avenue West have helped Douglasdale to hold its value as a place in which to live, work and invest.”
The Douglasdale Business and Residents Forum just before getting stuck in cleaning up the area.
Garden sponsors brought their families, friends and helpers, and the ward 106 councillor, Chris Santana, came along with members of his family. Ravi Govender, owner of Total Douglasdale, brought up the rear by watering the new plantings.
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The volunteers filled many of the gaps by transplanting existing ground cover, planting new agapanthus and wild garlic, pulling out weeds, removing litter and cutting swathes of grass around the now green and clean islands.
Ravi Govender, owner of Total Garage Douglasdale, does his bit.
“Thank you to everyone who joined in on the day, and thank you to our generous sponsors without whom Douglasdale would not have these islands of beauty,” said the forum’s vice chair, Ruth Fleming.
The businesses represented on the day were:
Remax 100
Hilltop Friends Pre-school and Playschool
Total Garage Douglasdale
Corporate communications and PR company, Headline News
Fanwell is one of the gardeners who attends to the verge gardens on a weekly basis
Other current sponsors, who have also give so generously, are:
Total Garage Douglas Village
African Craft Market
Pick ‘n Pay Douglasdale
Medicare (formerly Pharmasave)
Bitcoin 101
Cure Creative (who designed the forum’s logo).
The gardens were planted in 2008 as an Adopt-a-Pavement project by the Douglasdale Community Police Forum Sector 4 when Mottram was the chair and Fleming was the secretary.
All donations are welcome, whether they are in the form of services and help on the days of events, or sponsorships of funds and/or products e.g. garbage bags.
If you have experience any satisfying community work, please share your story on Fourways Review Facebook page.
