Karen Wrigglesworth and Terry Dowdeswell are part of Blooms on Bastia, the group trying to retain the Bell Garden. Photo / Bevan Conley
Karen Wrigglesworth and Terry Dowdeswell are part of Blooms on Bastia, the group trying to retain the Bell Garden. Photo / Bevan Conley
The fight to save an internationally acclaimed Whanganui garden has received $50,000 and the backing of the co-founder of the Eden Project in England.
The $50,000 goes towards the $1.5 million needed for the group Blooms on Bastia to buy the historic Bell Garden at 115 Mt View Rd andcreate a community space.
"We're hoping it will prod other people to invest in it too," group member Terry Dowdeswell said.
So far, they have also raised nearly $14,000 on their GiveaLittle, but are hoping for an "angel investor" to make up the $1.5 million before their deadline of June 28.
The $50,000 boost is being lent interest-free by a person who attended a movie screening held by Blooms on Bastia last Friday to raise awareness of the project.
The initiative has recieved nearly $14,000 on its GiveaLittle page. Photo / Bevan Conley
The screening included a documentary by Robin Kewell on the Eden Project and a video recording of the Eden Project's co-founder Sir Tim Smit, who came across the Whanganui group through Kewell, voicing his support.
The Eden Project turned a site in southwest England from a giant clay pit into a 200-acre public garden.
They sourced the money through lottery funding, the EU and commercial loans.
"Heligan didn't even have as good a story as you've got," Smit said, referring to the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall.
The Bastia Hill property was home to the garden of world-renowned iris breeder Jean Stevens, and became so well known the Queen Mother visited the garden when she was in Whanganui in 1966.
Jean Stevens in her iris garden, which was visited by the Queen Mother in 1966. Photo / Supplied
Smit said the story behind Eden Project was the garden had been rejected by everyone and no one wanted to deal with it because they didn't know how much it would cost or if people would come.
"Blooms on Bastia faces the same challenge where people won't believe you can attract an awful lot of people because, until you ask people to come, they don't come," he said.
Eden Project opened its doors to the public in 2001 and has had 18 million visitors since - more than a million visitors in 2019 alone.
The Eden Project has had more than 18 million visitors since its opening in 2001. Photo / Supplied
In his recording, Smit highlighted the importance of saving the extensive biodiversity of the gardens, the world-renowned contributions to plant breeding by the late Jean Stevens, and the rare opportunities the gardens offered for education and tourism.
He said the Bell garden had been a fantastic contribution to natural sciences and the Stevens' contribution to irises was famous to this day.
"Time is very short. It will work if you can get really behind it and give it current relevance as well as protect the past," Smit said.
Dowdeswell said he was confident they would secure finances for the property.
He said the project was gaining traction, with letters of support from Jack Hobbs of the Auckland Botanic Gardens, Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall, Community Education Whanganui, and now backing from Sir Tim Smit.
One of the group's members, Karen Wrigglesworth, is booked to speak about the initiative on the Kim Hill show on RNZ on June 24.
McDouall said if the timeframe was much longer it would be something the Whanganui District Council could have put out for consultation with the public.
Unfortunately, he said, the time the Blooms on Bastia project could afford was much shorter than the process council would have to go through to potentially offer financial support.
"We will do anything within the law that we can do to support them," McDouall said.
