THERE will be a special, one-off opening of Windle Hall Garden between 2 and 5pm on Sunday July 11 to celebrate the 42nd consecutive annual opening for charity.

The National Garden Scheme make such awards every 21 years and it is thought that this is the first garden in this part of the country to achieve this longevity.

A presentation will be made to Lady Mavis Pilkington's son, Nicholas, in her honour at 4pm and there will also be long-service awards to gardeners, Bob Stott and John Woodward. They have both spent more than over 25 years looking after Windle Hall's beautiful 200-year-old walled garden, which is surrounded by five acres of lawns, rock and water gardens, a thatched summer house, tufa stone grotto, herbaceous borders, pergola and rose gardens.

The memorial opening in September of last year was supposed to be the last, but nobody realised the significance at that time of the 42nd opening for the Garden Scheme and the family felt that the gardeners deserved the recognition implicit in their awards.

St Helens Concert Band, who have traditionally performed in the garden over the years, will be there. There will also be a bouncy castle for children and teas and refreshments will be available.

Lady Mavis, who died last year, was the Lancashire and Cumbria representative of the Garden Scheme for 10 years, encouraging other people to open their gardens for charity. This was very much a labour of love for the life-long lover of beautiful gardens, whose late husband, the then Sir Harry Pilkington, first opened Windle Hall Garden to the public in 1957.

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