Adults learn the beauty of gardening at church plot

A BEAUTIFUL garden which started life as grassland behind a church has been given a new lease of life.
Suzie Wright and her scheme Learning in a Fun Environment (Life) obtained the land near Aspley Methodist Church in February 2009.
Life was set up in September 2007 for adults with learning difficulties and disabilities.
The members now help to run the garden alongside Suzie and colleague Karen Fry.
The allotment took shape in spring 2009 and with the help of Karen, who taught gardening through New College Nottingham, the group turned it into a nurtured and cultivated plot of land.
Karen, who studied botany at Newcastle University, said the whole idea was to create somewhere to grow food and flowers and get the students involved.
"We've done a lot of learning on what the different vegetables are and what sort of things we can grow," she said.
"It's quite difficult for people to understand the link between a tiny seed which grows in the ground and quite a long time later comes up as a plant - so I've been trying to connect that together."
As a number of the students have mobility problems and are in wheelchairs, it can be difficult for them to take part in practical gardening.
Karen said: "We have to have somewhere that they can reach.