Caroline

Meet Caroline, urban warrior.  A very interesting day today.  Mum and me went for a walk in Calderstones Park.  We discovered that a wonderful group of volunteers are creating a new nature reserve in an until now rather derelict part of the park.  It's going to be awesome.  Caroline saw us peering over the fence and not only invited us in, but gave us a guided tour of the site.  And she was happy to pose for a photograph.

This bit of the park has a bitter history.   It used to be called Harthill Gardens and housed a huge complex of greenhouses that contained a world-class and world-famous botanical and orchid collection.  Liverpool unfortunately suffered from some intense politics in the 80s, the unionised workers were called out on strike, the 6 gardeners attached to Harthill Gardens refused to leave their plants to die, and the militant left deputy-leader of the council Derek Hatton bulldozed the greenhouses to the ground in retaliation.  The site was then used as a council depot, before being sold to Redrow housing who wanted to build some very expensive houses on the site.   A community campaign sprang up to oppose that and remarkably won, and Caroline is now leading the efforts to turn the site into a nature reserve and wildflower meadow.    She's a remarkable lady and I sincerely hope the picture does her justice.   More info on the project here: http://www.logscic.org.uk/depot.htm