42 Tuesdays for Leechwell Garden

Aim

Our weekly volunteer gardening programme costs £120 per session, and we urgently need to fund 42 sessions for 2027 – £5,500 in total

Help us keep Leechwell Garden growing

Leechwell Garden is cared for every week by local volunteers, supported and led by a professional gardener from ParkLife South West.

But currently Leechwell Garden Association does not have sufficient funds to pay for the gardener in 2027.

Our weekly volunteer gardening programme costs £120 per session, and we urgently need your help to fund 42 sessions during 2027 – £5,500 in total (as well as paying Crowdfunder fees.) We only run the garden programme from March to the end of November.

Without new funding, our remaining reserves will not last long.
That is why we are asking the Totnes community to help us raise:

£5,500 to secure another 42 Tuesdays in Leechwell Garden

£120 funds one entire Tuesday

Every donation helps.
£10 helps towards a session
£30 funds around a quarter of a session
£60 funds half a Tuesday
£120 funds a complete Tuesday volunteer gardening session
£240 funds two Tuesdays
£600 funds five Tuesdays

If you are a local business, community group or organisation, you can also Sponsor a Tuesday for £120.

Isn’t Leechwell Garden funded by the Council?

Many people understandably assume that it is.

South Hams District Council owns Leechwell Garden and is responsible for important core matters including safety and certain maintenance and repairs.

But the Council does not provide a budget for the community gardening programme which cares for the planting and helps make Leechwell the garden people know and enjoy today.

That work is organised by the volunteer-run Leechwell Garden Association, and we have to raise the money needed to support it ourselves.

Our income comes largely from donations and fundraising.

The Council owns the garden. The community helps make it what it is.

Why do volunteers need a professional gardener?

The £120 weekly cost does not pay someone to garden instead of volunteers.
It pays for the skilled professional support that enables the volunteer group to work effectively.
Our Tuesday sessions are led by an experienced gardener from ParkLife South West.
The gardener helps plan and organise the work, provides horticultural and ecological knowledge, supports volunteers with different levels of experience and makes sure the right jobs are tackled at the right time of year.

Volunteers help with activities including:
• planting and pruning;
• weeding and dead-heading;
• composting;
• caring for wildlife-friendly areas;
• general garden maintenance;
• seasonal horticultural work.
No previous gardening experience is required.
The professional gardener means that people can turn up, learn, contribute and work together safely and productively.

One professional gardener enables a whole group of local volunteers to care for Leechwell Garden together.

Why Leechwell Garden matters

Leechwell Garden is a small but important green space in the heart of Totnes.
People come here to sit quietly, meet friends, bring children, enjoy the flowers and wildlife, have a picnic or simply walk through the garden.
For people without gardens of their own, it offers somewhere free to enjoy plants, nature and outdoor space.
The garden also supports wildlife through sympathetic planting, wilder areas, composting and habitat creation.

Above all, it is a place that is free and open for everyone to enjoy.

A garden created by the community

Leechwell Garden also has deep roots in the history of Totnes.
The site formed part of an old orchard close to the historic Leechwell and its watercourse, with centuries of history surrounding the area.
The garden people know today grew out of determined local efforts to protect this special space and secure it for public use.
Leechwell Garden Association was formed in 2009, and the redesigned community garden formally opened in 2010, with several hundred people attending.

It has been shaped and cared for by the local community ever since.

Why we are asking for help now

The Association has kept the garden going through donations, fundraising and a great deal of voluntary effort.
But our financial position is now becoming serious.
Our remaining reserves are not  enough to fund the 2027 gardening programme, even if we had no other expenses.
We need to act now rather than allow the Association’s remaining funds simply to run out.

Our first target: £5,500

Our immediate priority is to protect the Tuesday volunteer gardening programme.

Reaching £5,500 will allow us to fund another 42 weeks of professionally supported gardening and meet the costs associated with raising the money.

It will also give the Association time to develop a more sustainable long-term funding plan.

If we raise more...

If we exceed our first target, additional funds will remain with Leechwell Garden Association and will be used towards essential garden costs, improvements and rebuilding a sensible financial reserve.

Our first stretch target will be:

£7,500

This would help us secure the gardening programme while also strengthening the Association’s ability to meet other essential costs.

We will report openly on how the money raised is used.

Can your business Sponsor a Tuesday?

We would particularly welcome support from local Totnes businesses and organisations.
£120 pays for one complete Tuesday gardening session.
Businesses donating £120 or more can, if they wish, be acknowledged as a Sponsor of a Tuesday through our campaign and communications.
Your support would directly enable local volunteers to spend three hours caring for one of Totnes’ community green spaces.

You can help in three ways

Donate
Whether it is £5, £20, £60 or the full £120 to fund a Tuesday, every contribution helps.

Share
Please share this campaign with friends, neighbours, local groups and businesses who value Leechwell Garden and Totnes’ green spaces.

Volunteer
New volunteers are always welcome.
Our gardening sessions take place on Tuesdays from 12 noon until 3pm.
You can join us for the whole session or just part of it, and no previous gardening experience is needed.

Help us fund 42 Tuesdays

Leechwell Garden exists today because people in Totnes cared enough about this little piece of land to protect it, create a garden and continue looking after it.

Now we need the community’s help again.
£120 funds a Tuesday.
£60 funds half a Tuesday.
£30 funds a quarter.
And every smaller donation takes us closer.

If Leechwell Garden has ever given you somewhere to sit, somewhere to play, somewhere to meet someone, somewhere to enjoy nature or simply somewhere beautiful to walk through:

please help us keep Leechwell Garden growing.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 28th October 2026 at 9:21am