Springhill Park a ‘bee friendly flower haven’

A STRABANE man has spoken of his delight at turning a disused patch of ground into a bee-friendly flower haven.

Eamonn Cooke wanted to make the bottom of Springhill Park ‘more appealing to the eye’ and decided after seeing a number of adverts for different funding options to apply for monies to turn part of disused land at the bottom of the road into a garden.

After first getting £400 in funding Eamonn started work on the land at the start of 2022. He put in 14 planters at the start of the year and two areas were also dug over and left ready for planting. Another small bed was made in order to plant wild flowers.

After the success of the inital phase of the work Eamon set up a Go Fund me Page to continue working in the area which raised £788. This money was used to pay for spring bulbs, topsoil and the remaining funds were used to buy shrubs and fruit bushes.

More money was raised by two local businesses in the town who gave £200 each and Eamon along with a group of others started to improve the space.

He told the Chronicle, “The reason behind what I have been doing in Springhill Park is as follows: A few years back towards the end of Covid lockdowns, I was driving round the corner from the grotto – all you saw when you come round that corner was weeds and long grass at the bottom of the estate. It was an awful sight. I thought to myself if funds became available I could clean that up.”

Eamon added, “I had a few people help throughout, but the one main helper was my cousin Kevin Flanagan. So, as much as it was my idea for the project, my cousin Kevin deserves as much recognition as myself because only for him, my project wouldn’t be where it is at all.”

Eamon also said he would like to thank everyone who has donated money to keep the project growing including Devine’s Scaffolding, another business that wishes to remian anonymous and local lady Jean Mullen who Eamon described as a ‘remarkable lady’.