Senior Flexonics Crumlin transforms Blackwood Primary School’s Secret Garden

A local business has once again come up trumps for the local community after carrying out a garden makeover for year 5 and 6 pupils at Blackwood Primary School.

This is the second time that staff from Senior Flexonics Crumlin, a sales, engineering and innovation centre based in Pen-Y-Fan Industrial Estate, have rolled up their sleeves to benefit the local community, after they built a forest school for Libanus Primary School last year.

Following the success of the previous project, the Senior Flexonics team was keen to do something for other local primary schools and approached Blackwood Primary to see if there was anything on their “wish list” that they could contribute towards.

The school suggested that they could help build a ‘secret garden’ for their older pupils on a previously unused area of the school site.

A before picture of the site

The work was carried out in one day by the whole of the Senior Flexonics Crumlin workforce and their significant efforts saw the garden transformed to incorporate a fire pit and seating area, raised beds, covered area, picnic table, bird bath, bird boxes, along with a swing and graffiti wall.

After the work – 1

Sarah Bradford, Business Manager at Blackwood Primary School said: “We were delighted when Senior Flexonics Crumlin approached us about creating the secret garden. As with all schools our time and resources are very stretched so to have someone offer to make over an area that will benefit the children, we jumped at the chance.

“The garden looks fantastic, and the year 5 and 6 pupils are thrilled to have such a special space of their own.”

Claire Barry, Human Resources Manager, Senior Flexonics Crumlin, said: “We were really keen to build on the success of last year’s project and the secret garden seemed like the perfect opportunity to make a lasting difference in the local community.

After the work – 2

“A big thank you has to go to everyone at Senior Flexonics Crumlin for the enthusiasm which they brought to the project, to the local suppliers whose help was invaluable and also to Neil Hook, the caretaker at Blackwood Primary School, who supported us with the logistics for the initiative and took delivery of supplies in advance of the day.

“We hope that the pupils at Blackwood Primary School will be able to enjoy their secret garden for years to come.”

After the work – 3

The year 5 and 6 secret garden project was entirely funded by Senior Flexonics Crumlin, but they were helped by a number of local suppliers who offered discounts or their time to help get the project done. They were given discounted rates by Hughes Forest, Blackwood and KARM Graffiti who did the graffiti wall, as well as free support from MSH Building who provided the manpower and digger for the path and SL Recycling provided free skip hire.

 

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