Dear Editor

On behalf of the Committee of the Friends of St Mary's, may I thank everybody who helped to make our Open Gardens event such a success.

The 840 happy and complimentary visitors who packed the streets of Ross, the 21 garden owners who presented their gardens so superbly, as well as the volunteers who made teas and cakes, manned car parks and information centres, all played their part.

Every one of you contributed to the nearly £5000 we raised to help preserve the fabric of our iconic church.

When the event was planned we wanted to make sure that this was something for the whole community and show that the Church was a major and active part of that community. 

We also wanted to attract visitors into Ross-on-Wye for the weekend. We think that we have achieved both of those aims.

Many visitors told us that we should repeat this event. We agree, but would need some different gardens. If any of your readers would be interested in opening their gardens at a future event, I would be grateful if they would e mail me now on [email protected]">[email protected] so that we can build a portfolio of gardens for the future, whether in 2016 or 2017.

Peter Reynolds, Chairman of The Friends of St Mary's