A BANGOR artist is calling for volunteers to help her add a little touch of magic to Queen’s Parade. Hoping to enlist the help of others, Sharon Regan plans to create an enchanted fairy garden at the community garden situated at Bangor’s Project 24. A grandmother of two, Sharon, who operates her studio from one of the pods at Project 24, was inspired to create something colourful and attractive for both children and adults to enjoy. Sharon stressed that the project would only be temporary, noting the development plans for Queen’s Parade. “In the meantime, this is just about bringing a wee bit of magic to the area and a wee bit of wonder for the kids to enjoy,” she said. “The garden down there is not really used and while it’s not an absolute mess, it’s not really used – so I just think we might as well,” she continued. Sharon hopes to encourage volunteers to help her realise her plans by helping tidy the area and helping to create salt dough fairy doors, mushrooms, toadstools and more. She also welcomes ideas for the garden from volunteers, pointing out that there is no set way a fairy garden should look. “It’s good fun for the adults as well to have a wee bit of silly play and I think silly play is good for the soul to help you reconnect with your inner-child,” Sharon continued. “Hopefully kids will come along and will have to look to see the different wee things and so it would be really great to get a bit of help.” Hoping to make the area magical, Sharon would like volunteers to be creative in helping create wooden fences from lolly pop sticks, making window boxes and little steps leading to each of the fairy homes. “This will help make it look like a more convincing set for the fairies to live in,” she said. Sharon said she was happy to provide materials to volunteers as well as offering some upcoming workshops this month. “I can provide the clay for kids and adults to make wee mushrooms and then I’ll fire them and they can paint them,” she said. “We can make salt dough fairy doors and windows and have them painted up too.” The Bangor artist, who resides in Donaghadee, also hopes to have a fairy canopy in the middle of the garden, consisting of a flag pole and lots of coloured ribbons coming out. She added that she needed some help in tidying up the raised beds in the garden. “We don’t want them looking beautifully manicured, just a bit of a tidy up and it is always nice to put a few wee wildflower seeds in too to attract insects and butterflies,” Sharon continued. “Some of the jobs that will make it look convincing are fiddly wee jobs.” With the trees so young in the area, Sharon has called for anyone with tree stumps around four to five foot high, to leave them with her for the project. “There have been so many strong winds I just thought that if people were cutting down fallen trees anyway, I want to try and use natural materials that otherwise would have been wasted.” Sharon hopes the fairy garden will be installed for Easter and to keep it in place until the end of summer, weather permitting. To learn more about the fairy garden or get involved, visit the Facebook page: Queen’s Parade Enchanted Fairy Garden. Hoping to get lots of volunteers, Sharon concluded: “Many hands make light work. We can all contribute to something and cut down on the amount of time and costs and it gets it done quicker.” Details about the upcoming workshops will be available on the Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Queens-Parade-Enchanted-Fairy-Garden-111590728123161
