The Oxton Society - Civic Day 2015
The Secret Gardens of Oxton
Oxton Conservation Area, Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside Sunday 21st June 2015
MORE people than ever bought tickets and visited Oxton for the conservation village's 15th Secret Gardens Festival at the weekend.
This year, the change of date to midsummer enabled our visitors to see the 24 gardens later in the season. Showing varying displays, from the gardens with spacious borders and landscaped lawns to small courtyards and terraces, all of which were in glorious June sunshine, each one is created and maintained by local gardeners who generously open their gates to raise funds for the Oxton Society’s chosen charities.
The centre of the village had street stalls, local arts and crafts and a wide variety of locally grown plants were for sale. Amongst the entertainment this year were the Melody Makers, Orchestra in Folkus, the Singing Piano Man and the Mersey Morris Men. There were also activities for the children including donkey rides, Punch and Judy, the Parkgate Ponies, face painting and a flower making workshop held at the Williamson Art Gallery.
The day is organised by The Oxton Society with help from local charities who benefit from the profits and this year's beneficiaries are the Viking Youth Club, Birkenhead Woodcraft Folk and Tam O’Shanter’s Urban Farm. Rhiannon Evans, chair of The Oxton Society said: "This was a fantastic day in which several thousand people joined in the celebration of Oxton's secret gardens with the music, artists, poets and children's events that make it such a unique day. More money was raised for our partner charities than last year and we are very grateful to the team and the volunteers who worked so hard to make it such a special day."