The 2006 Gardens Day The 2006 event raises £6,170 - a record total July 1st dawned warm, dry and sunny and the owners of eighteen beautiful gardens in the Handforth and Wilmslow area awaited their first visitors at 11am! Ever since they had agreed to open their gardens to the public on that day, they had worked tirelessly throughout the Spring and early Summer to ensure that the visitors would have a day to remember – and they more than achieved their goal. The large variety of gardens enhanced the tour but they all had two things in common; they were loved by their owners and they were looking at their best - with mature trees, vegetable plots, colourful shrubs and plants, attractive water features and garden ornaments, hanging baskets, pots, rockeries and greenhouses, all much in evidence. Many hundreds of people came from far and wide to enjoy the day, including one gentleman from Fort Lauderdale, Florida! It seems as though the Gardens Day is, also, becoming an annual focal point for family reunions – two keen women horticulturists from Birmingham and Leeds joined their sister, from Macclesfield, for a tour of the show gardens, and a retired head teacher from Wilmslow hosted her two sisters from Oxford and Frome and friends from London and Kendal. They were most impressed by beetroot flourishing in window boxes and trailing tomatoes in hanging baskets! Wonderful home-made refreshments were served all day by the Wilmslow Wells for Africa committee in the St. John’s Church Rooms and these greatly contributed to the enjoyment of the day. At 5pm, the gates and doors closed, the visitors went home, the gardeners relaxed (collapsed?!) and an amazing £6170 had been raised for the charity! Thank you, everyone, for your hard work and your support! The 2007 Gardens Day is already planned for 30th June!