25th January 2024 • The HERALD • Page 55 v SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SPECIALISTS v • All types of trees expertly felled, topped & pruned • Stump Grinding • Hedges pruned & trimmed • Lawns Laid • Fencing & garden work • Rubbish Clearance • Patios & drives jet-washed • Patios & Drives resurfaced or replaced Registerd Waste Carrier Licence CBDU374716 H Fully Insured H Evening: 01794 522092 Daytime Mobile: 07946 513633 Email: treefellers@gmx.com Smithwood Landscaping Professional Gardening & Landscaping • Garden Redesign • Astro Turf • Trees & Shrubs Carefully Pruned • Rockeries Designed • Fencing • Ground Cover • Seasonal Tidy Ups No Job Too Small as I am a Local Gardener Any advice over the phone is freely given Contact Gary (Master Landscaper) 07707 433194 ✿ DOWN THE GARDEN PATH ✿ Woodlands Gardening Club meets on the second Tuesday of the month. Meetings start at 7.30pm at Netley Marsh Community Hall, Woodlands Road, Netley Marsh. eir next meeting takes place on Tuesday 13th February for a talk by Geoff Hawkins titled ‘Shrubs – the Backbone of the Garden’. Visitors are very welcome at £2.50; for more information about the club, call Susanna on: 023 8029 2953. Shrubs – the Backbone of the Garden Totton & District Gardeners Society’s next meeting will be on Wednesday 14th February for a Question and Answer Evening. e meeting is held in the ree Score Club Hall, o Salisbury Road, Totton at 7.30pm. ey welcome visitors and new members. For more information contact them via their new website: tottongardeners. weebly.com or email: totton.gardeners@ btinternet.com Question & Answer Evening Flower Club AGM Black eld Flower Club’s next meeting will take place on Tuesday 13th February for their AGM. On Tuesday 12th March for a talk by Jennifer ompson titled ‘A Good Read’. Meetings are held at e Royal British Legion Club, Exbury Road, Black eld, SO45 1XD – visitors welcome, please contact Jan Gordon on: 023 8084 4835 for more details. Hampshire Housebuilder Raises £240,000 for Organisations in Need in 2023 Barratt Homes’ Southampton Division spent 2023 raising an incredible £240,000 for worthwhile organisations across the region via several exciting events and initiatives. Committed to helping the communities in which it’s building, the leading developer has been supporting those who need it throughout 2023. e help, among other things, has included a three-week school refurbishment project, a charity auction, a golf day fundraiser, and even support for a local donkey sanctuary. As well as the housebuilder’s Community Fund scheme, which donates £1,500 to a di erent charity each month, Barratt has organised a catalogue of fundraising activities across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Dorset, and West Sussex. In April, the housebuilder took on a huge £40,000 building project to help Vermont School in Southampton a er stretched budgets and an everincreasing intake, meant the special school was unable to provide important facilities for its pupils. e three-week refurbishment saw Barratt volunteers work to overhaul the school’s outside area and transform a storage room into a sensory room for its children to unwind. It was via Saints Foundation, a charity transforming lives in and around Southampton, that Barratt heard about Vermont School, and the Southampton Football Club charity has also had support from the developer again this year. It’s annual fundraising bash and auction at St Mary’s Stadium in September raised £170,000. And Barratt also donated £5,000 so a brand-new ladies’ tournament could be introduced at the charity’s annual Play at St Mary’s event in May. A golf day fundraiser was also organised by the Hampshire housebuilder, which raised an incredible £28,400 for the Open Bionics Foundation. Barratt arranged the sporting event a er it heard that the 8-year-old daughter of one of its employees needed a bionic arm a er she was born without a right hand. And, continuing its support for those who need it, Barratt passed over £5,000 to the Hayling Island Donkey Sanctuary which is providing a lifelong home for ex-working donkeys and those in need of help. e developer also handed over £1,000 to veterans charity, Bournemouth Above and Beyond Trust, to help fund a repair job to the boat shed it uses to run water sports sessions which help to improve the mental and physical health and wellbeing of its members. In addition to this, the housebuilder has also been raising funds in honour of its two o cial ‘Charities of the Year’. Hospice charity, Mountbatten Hampshire, and No Limits, a charity in Southampton that supports vulnerable children and young people, have been receiving funds raised via designated events and initiatives throughout 2023. It’s this incredible list of support, which has culminated in a tremendous total for organisations looking a er those who need it, and Kat Hutchings, Fundraising O cer at No Limits, said: “Thanks to Barratt Homes we can continue to help young people who need our support in the region. We are hugely grateful for the incredible amount of money it has raised on our behalf.” James Dunne, Managing Director at Barratt Homes, Southampton Division, said: “These charities are doing amazing work for local people and the community, and we want to show our support. It’s an absolute pleasure to be able to raise this sum of money in return for all their efforts.” As well as funds, Barratt Homes has also been donating its time to organisations in the local area by dedicating 37 days of volunteering time to charity. Railway Correspondence and Travel Society (RCT) and Mid Hants Railway, Solent Branch meetings are held in association with Mid Hants Railway – Southampton and Waterside Group. Meetings are held at the Eastleigh Railway Institute, Romsey Road Eastleigh SO50 9FE and commence at 7.30pm. e room, on the rst oor (sorry no disabled access), is usually open from 7pm. A bar is available for refreshments. eir next meeting is on Wednesday 21st February for Leatherhead Station & Stationmasters House, 7.30pm. Followed on Wednesday 20th March for Railway Miscellany. A donation of £3 is usual to help with the costs of the speaker and room hire. Non-members are very welcome at their meetings. Further details can be obtained from John Godfrey on: 07850 220009 or email: solent@rcts. org.uk Leatherhead Station & Stationmasters House
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