The greenhouse, managed by the Alexandra Park Greenhouse Group, will be open to visitors every Thursday from 2-4pm and Saturdays from 10.30am-1pm, offering a changing selection of plants grown on site.

As the season progresses, visitors can browse and buy a wide range of plants, with stock changing weekly as seedlings and cuttings come into their own. Proceeds from plant sales help support the work of the Alexandra Park Greenhouse Group, a community charity that maintains the greenhouse and runs educational and gardening activities for local residents.

Alongside plant sales, the greenhouse is hosting a series of community events designed to bring gardeners, families and nature lovers together.

Highlights include a community seed swap on 21 March, where you can bring spare seeds and swap with fellow gardeners to kick-start the growing season, share gardening tips, and start planning for spring. If you’re out in the garden, the greenhouse would also love any donations of plants you’re splitting, unhappy with, or no longer need.

Next month sees an Easter celebration family day on 5 April, with a garden-themed treasure hunt for children, and on 25 April visitors can join a beginners’ propagation workshop guided by RHS-trained lead gardener, Liz Maynard.

The greenhouse has become a vibrant hub for gardening, learning and environmental awareness in Hastings. Volunteers grow many of the plants on sale, and proceeds help support the upkeep of the historic greenhouse and its community activities. The greenhouse can also be hired as a unique green space for small parties, exhibitions, workshops or meetings.

For updates on events, workshops and plant sales, follow Alexandra Park Greenhouse on Facebook and on Instagram as well.

Set in the beautifully restored Alexandra Park Greenhouse, this hands-on session is the perfect start to the festive season. Participants will learn how to design and craft a traditional wreath using natural, seasonal foliage – and take home a handmade decoration ready to hang.

All materials are provided, and no experience is required. The workshop is part of the Christmas in the Greenhouse series – a month of festive, creative events celebrating community, sustainability, and local craftsmanship.

Alexandra Park Greenhouse, Saint Helen’s Road, Hastings TN34 2EL £55 per person (includes all materials) Booking is essential via eventbrite.co.uk/e/workshop-christmas-wreath-making-tickets-1759343968169

Something pretty special has been growing in Alexandra Park – and it’s not just the plants.

The Alexandra Park Greenhouse Group has scooped two major Royal Horticultural Society honours: a Gold Award for Community Engagement and an “Outstanding” rating in the It’s Your Neighbourhood category at the South & South East in Bloom awards. Not bad for a project that began with a leaky, ivy-covered glasshouse and a bunch of determined locals with loppers and a dream.

Fast forward eleven years, and the once-derelict 1930s greenhouse is now a buzzing community horticultural hub. Think propagation benches crammed with seedlings, workshops filled with chatter, and volunteers turning up in all weathers to garden, laugh, and bring their passion for plant life to the people of Hastings.

And it’s not just about the plants. This year alone, the team has donated around £3,500 worth of plants to schools, charities and community groups across Hastings helping brighten playgrounds, support wellbeing projects, and encourage more young hands to get muddy.

“It was a fantastic honour to represent the greenhouse to collect the award. We were just not expecting it, we really weren’t,” says volunteer coordinator Christine Roberton who went to RHS Wisley for the award ceremony. “It’s really nice that all the hard work the volunteers have put in – and it was a big team effort – is recognised by an organisation outside the community and with the RHS involvement. I think the volunteers are very proud.”

The greenhouse hasn’t just blossomed, it’s become a lot busier too. With more plants, more people and more partnerships, the team now hosts events like last week’s Halloween storytelling sessions for children by Ed Boxall, herbal skincare workshops by Doorstep Herbs, as well as hen parties and concerts.

But if there’s one thing this group has proven, it’s that Hastings knows how to rally people behind a much-loved place full of childhood memories. A little more than a decade in, the greenhouse is thriving – full of life, laughter, learning and a healthy supply of compost.

Not a bad harvest for a project that started with hope, pruning saws and sheer determination.

Fergus Garrett, head gardener and chief executive at Great Dixter Charitable Trust in Northiam, has supported the group since 2016 when he gave a talk to boost funds for the Hastings-based charity. The event raised about £1,000.

Now he has agreed to give his plant expertise, contacts and offer advice to the project at the park site which was rescued from dereliction by the group of volunteers in 2013.

He said: “I am delighted to be patron and to lend extra support to this very valuable community project. We are at the beginning of a very interesting journey where we can bring people, plants and biodiversity together, and sow seeds for future generations.”

Mr Garrett lent his support to the group’s 2020 campaign to put a permanent roof on the greenhouse’s 1930s structure, saying: “The project has already been a great success thanks to the hard work of the community. 

“It makes a valuable contribution to the area with community events and workshops, and as a valuable growing space where plants can be nurtured. It encourages local producing and local buying. It is also an important focal point for the people it serves.”

Linda Pearson, the group’s chairperson, said: “We are delighted that Fergus Garrett is now our patron. The expert horticultural and environmental knowledge that Fergus can share will be absolutely invaluable. 

“The group can now move forward with a working greenhouse that can be used for plant sales, workshops, training and development, not only for the volunteers, but for the community in general.

“We hope to encourage all age groups and all gardeners, whatever their experience, to enjoy using this very special restored greenhouse to grow together.”

As part of the latest stages of refurbishment, workers from Clarke & Baker, a surfacing company based at Ninfield, near Battle, have removed old paving from the greenhouse and prepared the floor for flat and reliable concrete tiles. The previous floor will be used to build a decorative wall in the space, which is being turned into a centre for nurturing and selling plants, talks, and courses to encourage people to grow garden plants and food.

Linda Pearson, chairman of the Alexandra Park Greenhouse Group, explained that funds donated by Hastings Round Table and a grant from the National Lottery were being used to pay for the work. She said: “We asked for the funding so that we can have a flat, trip-free floor for the community’s safety.”

Apart from its regular schedule of plant-based activities, the greenhouse space will also be available for community use, horticultural exhibitions, small concerts and social gatherings 12 months of the year.

Additionally, a new roof of reinforced glass panels is being installed after a successful fund-raising campaign Let’s Raise the Roof. Find out more about the greenhouse and its services at our-greenhouse.org

Chelsea Fringe was introduced in London seven years ago to encourage  green-fingered volunteer groups and individuals with blossoming ideas to  showcase them at different venues across London during the Chelsea Flower Show held each May.

The Fringe now is spreading across the country, planting  more inventive  green ideas. Having just celebrated the wonderful Jack in the Green festival, Hastings is certainly not short of green ideas to welcome in the spring.

Alexandra Park Greenhouse Group would like to encourage anyone who took part in the festival to wear their wonderful costumes again and come to the park on the 27th so everyone has  another opportunity to admire the creative talent of the designs.

As part of the day, one of the rangers, Nick Hennessy, will lead a guided walk through some of the wild life areas of the park not usually open to the public. Meet at the bandstand at 12.30pm.

The café eat@the park will serve a strawberry tea to add to the Chelsea theme and Bohemia Walled Garden will be represented to update everyone on the Heritage Lottery Funding they have received to rebuild the wall which is now in progress. The parks and gardens contractors Idverde have donated free seeds, collect some and make your own wild flower meadow at home. The greenhouse, (entrance St. Helen’s Road) will be open selling indoor and outdoor plants;  come and hear about the restoration plans for this historic building  and how you can help and  get involved.

Dog walkers welcomed throughout the park and at the greenhouse. Come and enjoy a free event in very special  park.

As well as the event in the park, a local artist Kim Batty has an exhibition of paintings and drawings which show Alexandra Park over the seasons at Titanic Arts Club (see page 16).

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article from Hastings Independent. The future of this volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.

The scheme – which has charitable status and a 25-year lease from Hastings Council – requires a volunteer co-ordinator, an events planner, practical and resourceful persons to assist with the continuing restoration of the greenhouse and smaller maintenance jobs – contacts with the building trade would be
useful – and gardeners and plant lovers to care for and build a growing stock of donated plants.

• The greenhouse is open 10.30-13.00 every Saturday morning. Contact alexandraparkgg@yahoo.com or www.greenhousealexpark.com

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article from Hastings Independent. The future of this volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.