GIBBONSDOWN Children’s Centre received a boost of £250 and a day’s labour from staff at the Holton Road branch of Santander as part of the Santander Community Day.

Santander staff helped out at the centre by clearing, planting and building a vegetable garden within the Wildlife Garden.

Julia John, garden coordinator, received the cheque in a ceremony launching the garden as Marie’s Garden Patch.

The garden is in memory of Marie Martyn who had worked at the centre for over 10 years as a cook who died in August.

Marie’s children Debbie and Ayshea, granddaughter Tegan and great-granddaughter Khobie attended the cheque presentation.

Julia said “It was great to see Marie’s family share the launch of the garden and see all the work that the staff had done. We will be growing all sorts of vegetables for the children to dig up and eat. We have already planted potatoes and beans. The children are busy watering and weeding daily to keep it tidy. This is a fitting tribute to Marie who loved to cook healthy food for the children.”

Santander branch manager, Heidi Smith said: “The staff loved working with the centre and to see it being used is just what we want. We want to thank local business Thomson and Sons for generously donating the wood which enabled us to build the patch.”

Gill Munro, centre manager, wanted to say a big thank you to Santander and to Thomson and Sons: “As a charity we rely on projects like this to help us go the extra mile for the children”.