Plant Giveaway in memory of the late Pete Kelly

Plant Swap at St Edmunds, Godalming

Surrey parishioners remember a beloved member of the community, Pete Kelly, with a plant giveaway in his honour.

Green-fingered Pete Kelly had planned 'Plant Swap' weekends in the parish of St Edmund, King and Martyr, Godalming, for parishioners to get involved in the livesimply award by exchanging plants after Masses on weekends in May.

As a tribute to Pete, who recently passed away due to Covid-19, fellow parishioner Janet Quinlan organised a plant giveaway in the church car park.

On Wednesday 27 May, parishioners were invited to come along and choose from the many donations of a plant or seedlings to take home and plant in their gardens in memory of Pete.

The plant giveaway continued for the remainder of the week and the weekend.

Pete's wife Mary told us how this wonderful idea came about. She said:

"Pete had planted so many seeds of various plants this year and was very excited about the 'Plant Swap' at Church. When he got sick, I wasn't sure how I would look after so many plants and ensure they were planted out at the right time to bring them on to the next stage.

"I did my best and when my daughter Aisling came home, we did it together. I was so pleased to hear about Janet's idea as it meant his lovely plants would not go to waste as there was no way I was going to use them all!

"So, we loaded up the car and took them to the church. Aisling labelled all the plants and put a brief description of the crates of how to plant the various plants, as her Dad would have done.

"I hope people enjoy them in his memory."

St Edmund's Parish has recently registered on the journey to becoming a livesimply Parish.

The livesimply award, championed by the international development charity CAFOD, encourages communities to live more simply, to care for the environment and to live in solidarity with people living in poverty. There are now 70 groups across England and Wales who have been presented with the livesimply award and made a pledge to live in solidarity with all people and sustainably with creation.

Find out more about the livesimply award at: www.cafod.org.uk/livesimply