The project was made possible thanks to a grant from the Northern Ireland Museums Council through the Museums Challenge Climate Change Grant programme, funded by the Department for Communities Climate Change Fund and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The project has continued to interest people. Members of Dementia NI’s Armagh Empowerment Group not only helped to launch the project but also the Library gained two volunteers who helped to keep the garden in order. Members of UNA-NI, the United Nations Association for Northern Ireland, learned about the project and gave a donation to the Library for the purchase of spring bulbs which were planted by the volunteers.
Representatives of UNA-NI and Dementia NI met the Keeper of the Library, the Very Revd Shane Forster and the Library’s Assistant Keeper, Carol Conlin, to highlight the gift and care of the spring bulbs. Speaking ahead of the visit, the Keeper said, “We are all well aware of the precarious position the world is in as a result of climate change and the need to act now to make a difference in safeguarding the planet for future generations. In a small way, the garden at No.5 Vicars’ Hill is symbolic of the global natural world. Through its careful maintenance and sustainable planting, we hope that it will remind all our visitors of the urgent need to care for the environment and the wider world around us.”
Standing from left – the Very Revd Shane Forster, Keeper of Armagh Robinson Library, Carol Conlin, Assistant Keeper, John Flack and Toni McManus, supporters of Dementia NI’s Empowerment Support Group. (Photographs by Ian Maginess)