Students help create memorial garden

Construction and horticulture students at Derby College Group have contributed to the creation of a memorial garden for former miners.

Students laid paths, built a raised flowerbed and planted trees and shrubs in the garden, which was gifted to Heanor Miner’s Welfare by David Wilson Homes following the completion of a nearby housing development.

The garden was officially opened by the Reverend Peter Hallsworth, assistant curate in Langley Mill and Aldercar, and attended by members of the miner’s welfare and the local community.

Heanor Miners’ Welfare general manager Susan Hamilton said: “It is a lovely, peaceful place for the local community to enjoy and particularly to pause and remember members of the miners’ welfare who have sadly passed.”

Horticulture lecturer at Derby College Mike Baldwin said: “Projects such as these provide our students with live projects to gain valuable work experience and we all enjoyed being part of the wider effort to bring these plans to fruition.”