News
2008 Supporting Activities
In addition to being welcomed into sixteen private gardens, visitors to Mellor on 25th May 2008 were able to enjoy the facilities offered by Mellor Primary School and Mellor Parish Centre.
These two centres were open all day providing much valued car parking and selling plants and planters as well as serving refreshments. The reputation of Mellor home-made cakes, always hugely appreciated by visitors, was further enhanced and the level of catering activity can best be illustrated by the consumption over the day of 60 pints of milk and 15 pints of cream! 
A large thank you is due to the catering team and to the head teacher for allowing the use of his school and for supporting the event so enthusiastically.
Various competitions also added to the enjoyment of the day in addition to swelling the funds.
There were sixteen happy winners of raffle prizes led by Barbara Arrandale, the ‘Match the Garden’ quiz was won by Linda Amos and the Treasure Hunt prize at Garden 16 by Lynne Barlow.
The superb cake - shown here – so ably created by Mellor resident, Vivien Ayres, was won by Margaret Firby.
Children’s miniature gardens and the Children’s Art Competition were exhibited at Mellor Primary School and the Photographic Competition at Mellor Parish Centre. Winners are to be congratulated and all entrants thanked for their contribution to the event.
The joint winners of the Photographic competition, The Nature of Mellor, shown here, were Maureen Matthews “Hearts delight” and Wendy Cloughley “Spring in Moor End”.
Hearts Delight
Spring in Moor End
Traditionally live music has been an invaluable part of the Mellor Open Gardens experience and the organisers thank the professional musicians of 2008 for giving their time and skill – Tricia Howitt and Lucy Dintinger (violins) and David Botley (piano).
Visitors also appreciated seeing the impressive progress at the Mellor Memorial Gardens while their children were able to enjoy a specially created nature trail. Once the site of a coal mine, the triangular gardens round the War Memorial are now owned by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council and form a small secluded haven. The gardens have been planted in various ways over the years but a creative project for their restoration was instigated by Mellor Society in 2001. Many hours have been devoted to its regeneration from local volunteers, involving groups such as the Friends of Mellor Parks Committee and Mellor Primary School as well as SMBC. Work is of course, still ongoing.
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