A new community garden for all the senses is blooming at Carrick-on-Suir Heritage Centre

Caption for photo above: Kendra Watson (centre) standing beside Cathaoirleach of Carrick-on-Suir MD Cllr Kieran Bourke (centre) and with Carrick Lions Club members, family, friends, members Carrick Development Association, Carrick Business Association and Carrick Men's Shed at the official opening of the community sensory garden at Carrick Heritage Centre on Saturday, June 1.

A new community sensory garden, created by a former winner of the national Lions Club Young Ambassador competition, has been created on the grounds of Carrick-on-Suir Heritage Centre.

The garden filled with flowers, plants and features that tickle your senses of taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing was officially opened during the Clancy Brothers Music & Arts Festival by Cllr Kieran Bourke in one of his final acts as outgoing Cathaoirleach of Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District.

And young Thomas Rose, a cousin of the garden’s creator Kendra Watson, cut the ribbon to officially open the garden.
Cllr Bourke said he was delighted to be associated with this beautiful garden created by Ms Watson who not only represented Carrick-on-Suir as a Lions Club Young Ambassador but also represented Ireland internationally in the competition.

Cllr Bourke said the people of Carrick were very proud of Kendra as were her parents. “You are an inspiration to us all. Congratulations and well done,” he said.

Carrick Lions Club Secretary Angela Watson and the Club’s former Young Ambassador competition officer Stephanie Keating also spoke at the ceremony.

Ms Keating said Kendra had been a wonderful Youth Ambassador for Carrick-on-Suir and Ireland’s Lions District and recalled her success at the European Youth Ambassador contest in Zagreb where she came second

She pointed out Kendra encountered a lot of knock backs in trying to find a site for the garden but praised her efforts in continuing with the project, which showed her love for her community.

Ms Keating paid tribute to Patsy Fitzgerald of Carrick Development Association for offering a corner of the grounds of Carrick Heritage Centre for the garden.

Kendra Watson told the opening ceremony that her sensory garden project originated two years ago when she was in 5th year at Scoil Mhuire Secondary School and represented the school in Carrick Lions Club’s Young Ambassador competition.

She proposed a sensory garden as her competition project because at the time she felt Covid had really impacted her family, friends and community.

“I really struggled in trying to reconnect with ‘normal life’ after Covid and I think many around me were in the same boat.

“The garden aspect of the project was a way to coax people out of their homes and work places and create a space outdoors where people could just have a breather, a space to just sit awhile and relax.”

She was also inspired to propose the garden project because she had family members and close friends who struggled with sensory needs like autism, anxiety and depression.

“I wanted to also reach out to the wider community who also struggled with sensory difficulties and create a space where they could zone out and just be themselves.”

Kendra explained the garden is a place where one can become in tune with your senses.

For your sense of sight there were lots of different coloured flowers, different shades and textures of leaves and plants. She added different plants known for their smell from sweet aromas like lavender and flowers to savoury like geranium and mint.

A variety of grasses, trees and gravel are the garden’s sound sense features.

“Taste was a very important and personal aspect for me,” she said. “A core memory of mine growing up was spending hours with my nan in her garden and vegetable patch pinching and snacking on her tomatoes, beans and carrots. So for this garden I added tomatoes, peppers, mint and strawberries.”

For the sense of touch, she said the garden was a place where touching a variety of textures was encouraged from soft velvet petals to leathery leaves from grass, bark and stones to painted tyres, wood and ivy on the walls.

She thanked Carrick-on-Suir Lions Club and its members, Carrick Men’s Shed, CDS Waste, Carrick Development Association, Suir Valeting, the Tidy Town, Waters Monumental Works and members of the community who helped her with the project. She also thanked her family for their support, help and encouragement, particularly her mother, Angela.

Check out more photos from the official opening of the community sensory garden in this week's edition of The Nationalist now on sale in local shops. 

Pictured below: Kendra Watson with her cousin Thomas Rose who cut the ribbon to officially open the community sensory garden.