Residents young and old have been putting in some hard graft to make sure St Margarets looks beautiful in time for this year’s Richmond and Britain in Bloom contests.

Students from Tower House school, in East Sheen, and Kingston’s Mary Mount International school, pulled on their wellies and dusted off their spades at the weekend as they joined in with Richmond Environment Trust’s Kilmorey Mausoleum community gardening project.

Clare McCormack, volunteers co-ordinator at the garden, said: “It’s wonderful to see city children, like those at Tower House, excited about planting things.

“The project is all about community involvement and we have really amazingly hard-working volunteers from the community [who make it] a really beautiful place to come.”

Ms McCormack, a professional garden designer, said the volunteers and the environment trust worked closely with everyone from Kew Gardens to English Heritage to ensure the gardens were in tip top condition and continued to capture the community’s imagination.

She said: “It may be by a main road but once you get into the garden you can hear birds singing and it is really nice.

“[You can] get away from the stress of everyday life.”

The running of the project was taken over by volunteers in 2004.

For the past few years the gardens have achieved gold and silver each year in the environmental section of the annual Richmond in Bloom awards.

To get involved with the mausoleum gardens, contact lynsey@environmentaltrust.

co.uk or call 020 8891 5455.