St. Aidan in the Beach hosts opening celebration for new community garden this Sunday afternoon

By ALAN SHACKLETON

The Church of St. Aidan in the Beach will be hosting a celebration this Sunday to officially open its new community garden.

The garden is located on the west side of the church, which is on the southwest corner of Queen Street East and Silver Birch Avenue. The opening celebration is on Sunday, Sept. 29, from 4 to 6 p.m.

Prior to the creation of the garden, the space had been a playground for a daycare at the church and then an empty sandy lot due to renovation work recently done to the front of the building.

Design work on the garden was done by Arcadis, a sustainable design, engineering and consultancy firm with which Beach resident Trevor McIntyre is Global Director.

Using plants native to the area and also accessibility for all residents were among the key guidelines established for the new garden’s creation, said McIntyre.

Arcadis donated their services and worked with the church community to design the garden. St. Aidan’s treasurer Bruce Mori was also working with Arcadis at the time that planning for the garden began, but he is since retired.

“Bruce and I talked about the garden, and decided to hold an internal design competition at Arcadis,” said McIntyre in an interview with Beach Metro Community News while in the garden earlier this month.

“The design worked within the church garden committee’s rules for what they wanted in the garden and we gave the designers a few days to come up with plans. The ideas were presented at the church, while outside in the space.”

Native plants being used in the garden include red osier dogwood, yellow twig dogwood and sedge grass along with flowers and ferns which are pollinator friendly.

“We wanted the garden to reflect our duty of care for God’s creations and to support local birds and bees,” said St. Aidan’s church warden Courtney Ebner.

The landscaped garden was built to be accessible for those with mobility issues and features a gently sloping interlocking brick walkway, stone walls for sitting and benches. People using wheelchairs, walkers and strollers will be able to easily access and enjoy the garden. Bricks for the walkway and walls were donated by Unilock, said McIntyre.

The garden will be open to all community members from dusk to dawn each day, but the gates will be closed at night in order to respect the privacy of residents in the apartment building on the western boundary.

“It’s a garden not just for the church but for the whole neighbourhood,” said Ebner.

There are seven mature trees already in the garden, six oaks and one maple. The oaks are estimated to be more than 100 years old and provide much shade for the space.

Along with being open to the community, the church itself is also looking forward to using the new garden space to host events and even outdoor services.

“We’ll have youth ministry and other events in the garden as well,” said Rev. Rebecca Bridges, the Incumbent (pastor) at St. Aidan’s.

She emphasized that all community residents are invited to attend the opening celebration this Sunday afternoon. Special guest will be Bishop Kevin Robertson from the Anglican Church of Canada Diocese of Toronto.

For more information on St. Aidan in the Beach and the community garden’s opening ceremonies, please go to https://staidansinthebeach.com/events

This photo shows what the space on the west side of the church looked like prior to the creation of the new community garden. Photo: Submitted.