Garden party with the Queen for former South Coast couple
They've raised money for a 5000 litre water tank and provided seedlings and fruit trees, working with the local community in Umzumbe.
Former South Coasters Duwayne and Elise Langley were recently honoured with an invitation to a garden party at Buckingham Palace with the Queen, in recognition of the community work they do in St. Ives, Cornwall, UK.
The story also has a local angle, with the couple having started to raise funds for a community garden and creche in Umzumbe – Ntshambili community gardens and orchard and Zimisile Creche.
They’ve raised money for a 5000 litre water tank and provided seedlings and fruit trees, working with the local community in Umzumbe.
Shortly after they arrived from the coast in St Ives, they heard about a community orchard that had been abandoned.
The area was overrun by waist-high, prickly brambles, which took years to clear, section by section.
They cleared and cleared, on their own, or with their children, but gradually willing volunteers joined as the orchard started to take a life of its own.
In the process they found hidden treasures of fruit trees that had been planted there.
At the beginning of Covid, Elise looked into running a ‘Food Share’ in St. Ives, with big retailers, for the benefit of the homeless and needy.
This has grown into something quite big, with pickup points for those in need to collect food.
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