Caerphilly Miners Centre volunteers win national gardening award

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Volunteer gardeners who turned a concrete car park into an accessible community space have won a national award from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).

The gardening group at Caerphilly Miners Centre received the UK award for sustainable gardening after being nominated by Wales in Bloom competition judges.

They will be presented with their prize at the RHS Community Awards 2026 ceremony next month.

Lead gardener Chris O’Meara explained: “The judges approached us and said our garden was of such a high quality they would be interested in nominating us for the UK in Bloom Awards, so the impetus came from them, not us.

“They asked us to give them a bit of information and we made a video, and then it went radio silent – but we heard this week that we had won.

“We’re highly delighted, but we just love gardening. We don’t do it for the awards.”

The garden is free to enter and open to the public. The gardening group meets every Wednesday morning to work on the site.

Addressing the health and social benefits of the weekly sessions, Ms O’Meara said: “We love being part of the group and being together. There’s a dozen of us volunteers that meet every week

“We get fit, it’s good for mental health, we’re improving biodiversity, and we garden without chemicals – so we’re making our contribution to tackling climate change. We just love doing it”

She continued: “We’re very flattered that somebody, independent who is an expert gardener, has recognised what we’ve done.

“We are very flattered, we’re just not the ball gown sort of people. Thanks to the Miners Centre for letting us do their garden.”

Kate Briscoe has been involved with the group for around four years, originally joining to pursue her passion for gardening beyond her own garden.

Ms Briscoe said: “I’ve got just a thing about wildlife and beautiful gardens, and the way nature propagates itself. It’s a beautiful activity and I’m obsessed with it.”

Reflecting on the national recognition, Ms Briscoe said: “It makes us feel like we’ve got it right somehow – even though there’s many ways to garden. We try to do everything very naturally, and it’s worked.”

She added: “Within the group, everybody seems to have different skills. One of the men likes to do all the plumbing and saving rainwater. Another person likes woodwork, then somebody likes pruning, somebody likes weeding, other people like potting.

“Older people who can’t bend and stretch, they do the potting here. And we really don’t have to tell people what to do – they choose what they’re doing and somehow everything gets done.”