Our Future

The future is looking good for this lovely teak and cast-iron building which shares its history with that of the town.

Current Progress

A wonderful seed was sown when a member of the community, impressed with our vision for the greenhouse gave a very generous donation in 2020 to finance:

• The teak frame
• All the ventilation frames and gable ends
• All the toughened glass
• Repairs to the cast iron, downpipes and internal staging

We needed further public support to develop the greenhouse into an all year round resource for the local community and so a crowdfunding campaign was launched in August 2020.

We raised over £10K to go towards paying for the internal light and power, repoint the aging brickwork, improve the floors and interior, build a perimeter fence and emergency gate for safety and security.

A further £5K was directly donated from three generous donors which brought our total raised to over the £100,000 needed to start restoration. A magnificent achievement by a small charity.

The first project using this money was replacing the fence to enhance the surroundings and make the greenhouse more secure.

With all that happened in 2020 people are valuing nature and the outdoors more than ever. Alexandra Park and its wildlife give great pleasure to many and the greenhouse can play a nurturing role in our community with its emphasis on growing and cultivating plants and green issues in general.

We plan a separate shaded area with a flexible partition which mirrors the design of the gable ends of the greenhouse to provide a space where focus groups, talks, workshops, classes can be held.

Our long-term aim would be to employ a Project Administrator to organise events, coordinate groups using the building and give support to the volunteer team.

Let’s Grow Together

This space will also be available for community use, horticultural exhibitions, small concerts and social gatherings 12 months of the year.

As the greenhouse was originally steam-heated, we will be looking into introducing environmentally friendly solutions, such as solar roof panels for heating and glazing.

The rest of the building will be a working greenhouse to share gardening experience, a peaceful and inspiring place to enjoy and a vibrant horticultural and educational facility.

Our volunteers will continue to work at the greenhouse, give advice, grow plants for sale and organise gardening talks and demonstrations in the glazed section.

APGG will continue to raise funds to provide for the future of the greenhouse to make it part of a walk in Alexandra Park for generations to come.