KCOM engineers brave cold for community garden

It may have been a touch frosty underfoot but that didn’t stop eight hardy KCOM engineers from helping out at a community garden this week.

The engineers spent a day braving the cold at the Pollinate Eco Garden, at St Nicholas’s Church, Hornsea, where they laid the foundations for a paved area and ‘labyrinth’ which will form the focal point of a new community garden being created in the Holderness town.

Helen Ball, Pollinate garden coordinator, said: “It’s a bit cold to say the least, but the KCOM guys have been brilliant. They were here bright and early and getting stuck in. We couldn’t have done it without them and it’ll help create a really useful space for the whole Hornsea community.”

The labyrinth is the central part of a new community garden area, which the Pollinate volunteers have been creating as an amenity the whole town can use for events, concerts or just some peaceful reflection.

While the volunteers have already planted a flower bank and wildlife area, Helen said they needed “a bit of muscle“ to help with the heavy lifting and installing the paving slabs.

She said: “We’d struggled with the more physical side of building the garden, so to have a team of engineers here has been just what we needed.”

KCOM were contacted by the Smile Foundation through its Time2Volunteer scheme to help with the project and the East Yorkshire based broadband company was happy to join in.

Powered by bacon butties and cuppas provided by church volunteers, the KCOM volunteers got to work early in freezing conditions laying flagstones, before laying out the surrounding labyrinth pathway.

Leading the build, KCOM senior network specialist Liam Smith, said: “It’s been a really good experience for our guys. We’ve got a few trainees with us today and this is a first time for them getting out into the wider community to help out. It’s great for them to see it’s about more than just installing broadband, but also supporting the communities we serve.

“The cold doesn’t bother them, we’d be out in all weathers working anyway so a little bit of snow’s not going to stop them!”

St Nicholas vicar, The Rev Tina Minett Stevens, said: “It’s wonderful that KCOM has been able to come and do this for us. This area has always been a bit of a secret garden, which not many people knew about. Now, with this work, it’ll be much more accessible as a place that everyone can use, whether that for a community event or just as a haven for some peace and quiet.”

For more details visit the Pollinate Eco Garden page on Facebook.

For more information about KCOM’s work in the community click here