Christmas wreath workshop

Pictured: Mary May and Kevin Corr from the Heritage Gardens.

Pictured: Mary May and Kevin Corr from the Heritage Gardens.

NewsFour was in attendance at the Heritage Community Garden at Avila, Donnybrook on December 6th to report on a Christmas wreath workshop set up by the volunteers at the centre. The workshop was open to people of all ages, who went through their paces at constructing their own festive garlands for the holiday period.

Over the years, people have tended to either create or buy their own wreaths at Christmas time, with the intention of propping them up on their own door or even in many cases to embellish the graveside of a loved one. However, workshops like this have become very timely in recent years, with the recession making people that much more frugal during Yuletide.

This is the workshop’s second year, after a successful debut and all of the materials for the wreaths were provided by and collected from the grounds of the Avila Carmelite Monastery. Some of the plant materials used were cypress and holly, which also provides convenience, seeing as these trees are pruned during the winter months anyway!

“The great thing about the wreaths,” Kevin Corr, volunteer at the Community Garden and main driving force behind the workshop, told NewsFour, “is that when you go into a shop they are all the same but here everyone has their own one, with their own individual signature to it. I used to work in a place and they used to have a wreath workshop every Christmas, so when I came here as a volunteer I thought it was a great idea and it was very successful the first year and so we just carried on the tradition.”

The day itself featured aspiring wreath makers both from within and outside the Community Garden. The Christmas spirit was clearly present on the day and people took their own wreaths home for a small fee, with all donations being put squarely back into the gardens.

By Craig Kinsella