This page is under review:

13 September 2023: the new group of garden volunteers has spent the past few months getting advice from the Council and setting up the necessary agreements with them.

We have submitted an application to the City Council's Environmental Improvement Programme 2023-2024 for funding to make the garden more biodiverse.

Our next job is to organise regular gardening sessions: for volunteers who would like to help out on a weekly basis, and also sessions for those who aren't able to get to the garden regularly.

If you are not able to do any gardening but would like to support us we have a Friends group. If you are interested in either being a Volunteer or a Friend please email us on g gardenatnightingale@gmail.com.

We would also love to hear from anyone who would like to help out with the website and social media.

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Financial support

If you’d like to support us, you can do this easily by bank transfer: Nightingale Gardeners, Lloyds Bank; Sort code: 30 65 65 Account number: 631 76568.

And you can join as a Friend of the garden.

Past support

Since 2014, we have received fantastic support from:

28 Cambridge cubs and helpers - for heroic crocus corm planting on 12 November 2016 - in very cold wet weather, for the Wulfstan Way project and for fundraising with us on 2 September 2017.
Big Lunch Extras: mentoring for at least three of the people involved, (now called Eden Communities).
Bird Cafe volunteers - local Friends, setting up bird feeders, providing bird food and keeping them clean and topped up. We even received an envelope of money-off vouchers for bird seed with a lovely thank you note. And some fat balls in December 2017.
Cambridge Botanic Garden, including Fliss, Hannah and Sandie in Education and Outreach.
Cambridge City Council - Community Development: (especially Soahlon, Bridget, Caroline, Lisa, Patrick and Simon); Open Spaces: (including Ed the City Ranger; Guy the Biodiversity Officer and Vic and Anthony; Kenny the tree man; the parks team including Grant, Tony, Luke, Andy), Sports and Recreation teams: (especially Joe, Mac and Ian).
Cambridge Drone Aerial Photography: especially David.
CCVS Rag Ballot 2017 - for awarding us a grant for gardening tools.
The former Friends of Nightingale Park: including the committee members.
Friends of Rock Road Library, including Steph for giving us very useful advice about primary science needs.
Gate rota volunteers: since 2015, allowing us to keep the area open every day but also be safe and a good neighbour.
Grow Places: for the previous Gardening for Health 'Monday, Tuesday and Friday' groups (until July 2016), especially Paul, but also all the volunteers who came in all weathers to make the garden better - and also collect and sort lots of seeds.
Headway Cambridgeshire: 'Tuesday allotment group' in 2015, especially Simon but also all the volunteers.
Local councillors: including those who voted to support accessibility and biodiversity improvements with a S106 Open spaces grant (for 2016+) and helped us set up the Bird Cafe. And subsequent grants.
MedImmune - in April 2016, more than 30 people volunteering at our first ever corporate social responsibility event.
Papworth Owl Horticulture Group: especially Sarah, but also the students and staff who helped plant the native hedge.
Queen Edith's Community Forum, between being a Friends of Nightingale Park project and becoming our own constituted group in May 2018.
Queen Edith's pub on Wulfstan Way - for supporting us at some of their weekly pub quizzes - Monday night at 8pm. Fiendish questions guaranteed. With Milton Breweries, we had a very generous donation in early 2017, which funded the tanalised wood for the edging of our narrow beds.
Queen Edith's residents: for donations (see below).
Regular and occasional garden volunteers - including on (pre-pandemic) Sunday and Monday afternoons' social gardening club'. Over the years these have included Agnes, Andrew, Angelo, Ann, Anne, Anthony, Barbara, Ben, Becky, Bethan, Bob, Bronwen, Carol, Caroline, Christine, Claire, Colin, David, Diana, Eira, Emma J, Emily, Francesca, Gill, Graham, Keith, Harry, Ingrid, Immy, Izabela, Jane, Jennifer, Jennie and family, Jill, John x 2, Josephine, Joyce, Judit, Julian, Justin, Kate, Katie, Lily, Lisa, Lois, Lorna, Louise, Marwan, Musang, Nat, Noreen, Peggy, Peter, Rebecca, Richard, Sam, Samantha, Sandy, Siva, Stepan, Sue, Terry, and Tom. And for generous donations to the project too.
Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) - see below for funding but also to Alison, Outreach officer, for lots of encouragement and support in 2017.
Rotary Cambridge - for donating a huge box of crocus corms for their Purple for Polio project - and Nigel for braving awful weather to help us get them in the ground.
South Area Committee 2016: a small grant via Sustrans to support the social walk, including posters and flyers. We bought an event shelter, new folding table, a faster kettle and a large airpot, which we use for after-walk refreshments but also for garden volunteers ('gardeners tea at 3') and generally for events in the garden and park.
Transition Cambridge's Nature Group: for eco-collaborations, including at the Wild Weekend, and helping to build an 'ecology kit' for the emerging tool library.

And lots of park users who don't belong to a group but just wander by and say nice things about what we are doing.

We have also received essential donations and loans to the project including from:

Ad, Mel and Oscar - for a very generous donation to the garden.
Amey Cespa household recycling centre at Milton: garden tools, sack barrow, wheelbarrow, hosepipe.
Anglia Ruskin Biodiversity Project: wildflower seeds.
Ann's family: kids craft materials, pens etc.
Ann and Ron Laskey - for garden tools, plants and turf. You are great garden neigbours.
Barbara: rhubarb, and other lovely plants.
Big Lunch Extras, Milton Keynes event: rocket stove.
Brewers (Clifton Rd) - pallets, cardboard and a dustsheet.
Cambridge Botanic Garden: in 2015, foxglove plants and, in 2019, some compost.
Cambridge Wood Works (no longer trading unfortunately): inspiration, chicken wire, various tools, survey measure, screws and hinges, Workmate.
Cambs Headway volunteers and staff: spare roofing felt, loan of tools and equipment, loan of water butts.
City Council Open Spaces: native hedging, meadow seeds, loan of moth trap and scythes, coloured dogwood prunings.
City Council Recycling Team: spare gardening stuff via Bring and Take, wheelie bins, small green bin, advice on coffee grounds from cafes.
City Council Sports & Rec: new roofing to the club hut, padlocks and keys.
Colin Jones - for Spring bulbs for 2021.
Co-op supermarket at the Marque - refreshments for the Winter Festival, RSPB Birdwatch and Cambridge Wild Weekend.
Coton Orchard Garden Centre - for plant donations in July 2021.
Dawn and Chris: for the polytunnel trellis.
Flymo and McCulloch, who are sister companies of Gardena - donated the garden a new 50 m garden hose and all the bits.
Freecycle people: strawberry plants, Adirondack chairs, plastic garden chairs (April 2016), picnic table and BBQ (May 2016).
Friends of Nightingale Park: baked goods, including for fundraiser, fund for wildflower seeds, loan of bird feeders and donated bird food.
Friends of Rock Road Library: spare plants, sharing bulb order.
Grow Places (especially Paul Herrington) and volunteers: biscuits, blackboard (from a skip), bulbs, cleaning kit, cloches, disabled gardening tools, first-aid kit, seeds, plants.
Hill (the housebuilders)- a very generous donation to support the garden. We have used it for our new toolshed, paint, tools and materials in general.
Immy, Ingrid and Steve - for so many items (big and small) but also activities, enthusiasm and support, including a donation for the tree-shade bench.
Josephine Jones - for a very generous donation - used for the tree-shade bench.
Karina Wells: indoor bench, composter, white storage box, strawberry plants, bamboo, wire fencing and struts.
Keith: lots of plants.
Little Nightingale’s parent - pond-dipping nets.
Local building sites: fencing, pallets, storage crates.
Local garden group - sent us a donation instead of sending Xmas cards. Thank you!
Lorna Brown - for lots of recycled wood.
Lorna's family - roses for our scented bench garden.
Lynda - workbench and a historic wooden box.
Manit Contractors, via Martin Allen - for a very generous donation of new slabs for our green roofed veranda and under our new water butts.
Paul Waldmann: loan of workbenches, now returned.
Peter and family: planters and wood.
Queen Edith's Community Forum fire safety kit and other financial support until we set up our own bank account.
Rag Ballot 2017 - for a generous donation for tools.
Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), Greening Grey Britain, It's Your Neighbourhood - award to Queen Edith's in Bloom, for Wulfstan Way Raingardens project. We have used some of the grant for tools for children (and adults) to use, including in the garden.
Rock allotment neighbours - concrete blocks for stepping stones.
Sam and G Davies: 'Colin's pumped up wheelbarrow' (now at Nine Wells allotments), portable workbench (now retired).
Sue P: so many plants from her garden (buddleia, fig tree, geranium, hellebores, heuchara, hydrangea, pulmonaria, sedums, 'smelly plant'), materials and tools. We propagate from them and share them with volunteers and public spaces.
The former Sustran’s-supported social walkers: plastic mugs, lots of snacks and some plants for both the garden and Wulfstan Way.
St James' Church volunteers - lots of support including redcurrant bush cuttings and foxgloves.
St John’s garden club - for a very generous donation after their visit.
Tym the tree surgeon: logs galore, for a bug hotel and woodpile. Other tree surgeons working in the park (I forgot to write down their names) who left us the big logs and smaller branches for our hugelkultur bed.
Transition Cambridge members: various hand gardening tools, hanging baskets and useful dustbins.
Winter Festival visitors - who donated funds for the garden, which was topped up from the raffle/collection - we are using these towards the Soft Fruit Aisle plants.
Yi-Zhong Yang style Tai Ji Society - our Tai Ji friends from the park - for a very generous cheque to spend on seeds and bulbs.
Yvette’s family - for the plum and gage trees and some bulbs.

[If I have forgotten anyone, please let me know]

Last updated: 13 September 2023