Scottish Potters Association in memory of Anne Lightwood

Anne's Garden

Ruvuma Development Aid is a charity that Anne Lightwood supported from the early days when it was founded back in 2000. Over the last 16 years Anne supported the cause by donating ceramic work to the fundraising art auctions, sponsoring a girl called Anna (something her daughter Jenny is continuing) and organising the very successful fundraising auction of ceramics at the Scottish Potters Spring gathering in 2015.

The NMSE school in Tanzania first opened in 2011 with just two classrooms and a further two classrooms being used as dormitories. Since then we have completed two more large classrooms, developed the admin block with a small library room as well as office spaces, toilet blocks and a large double dormitory. The latest ongoing extension of the project which we hope to complete next year will have three new teaching spaces and a purpose built library. This work will bring the number of classrooms to eight, leaving the second double dormitory still to be built. While it would be good to have a laundry area, a purpose built kitchen and a large hall - the basic essential construction would in place.

As we approach the final phase of building we are developing garden areas and the first, a vegetable garden and orchard, was created this year with the support of a group of volunteers from One Solution led by Gillian Piggot.

Friends of Anne?s have suggested creating a flower garden at the school, funded by Scottish Potters, as a memorial garden This is a very fitting tribute in her memory as she was such a great supporter of the project and a very keen gardener herself.

Funds will be raised through donations using an everyclick page which has Ruvuma Development Aid as its nominated charity and with an auction of ceramics at next year?s Spring gathering. A target amount is still to be decided, based on costs, but there are various options. A round covered structure like the image shown could be built as the centre piece and this could have a memorial plaque designed by one of the Scottish potters?

The cost to the One Solution volunteers for the vegetable garden with a round shelter was £1,500 for materials and labour. the volunteers created the design and helped with the labouring. The cost of the flowering plants for Anne?s Garden would not be very much and the planting could be undertaken by the children supervised by the school gardener.

At some time, once the garden is created, the children of the school could perhaps create a ceramic frieze or series of decorative plaques which could be added to the outside of the round structure. The children have already had a workshop run by local potters and shown how to make traditional pots in July this year.

It is essential that the garden be fenced to keep stray goats from the nearby village from eating the plants. So the main cost would be for the fence and the round structure if your group decide to get that too. The cost of flowering plants would not be great and we would recommend using indigenous plants. Bougainvillea grows well there as do lilies and passion fruit vines. We would take advice from the nuns in the nearby deaf school as they have developed beautiful gardens and know the best plants to grow.