SUSTAINABILITY
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AROUND THE REGIONS<br />
Hampshire<br />
Institute of Naval Medicine<br />
10<br />
foxgloves, borage and camomile, but<br />
also some more unusual ones<br />
including betony pinks, lady’s<br />
bedstraw, heartsease, sempervium and<br />
redcurrant. All provide a great nectar<br />
source for pollinators.<br />
Restored INM pond taking shape © Wendy Lydiatt<br />
Hidden in a far corner of Gosport by<br />
the sea is the Institute of Naval<br />
Medicine (INM). The original building,<br />
Monckton House, dates back to 1854<br />
and sits in eight acres of land with a<br />
well established garden at the front of<br />
this Grade 2 listed building. In<br />
November 2013 a few workers<br />
rediscovered a corner of INM hidden<br />
behind the stores building that had a<br />
neglected pond area and decided to<br />
tidy it up. The INM ‘Ponders’, as they<br />
came to be called, with the support of<br />
the Medical Offcer in Charge, had a<br />
team building day to clear the pond.<br />
Frogs and plants were removed safely<br />
so that a new pond liner could be put<br />
in place. But that was just the<br />
beginning. The initial idea of just doing<br />
the pond area grew to creating a<br />
whole garden.<br />
INM has an affliation with the<br />
Worshipful Company of Barber<br />
Surgeons in London, which has a long<br />
established medicinal garden. So it<br />
was decided to create our own<br />
medicinal garden, encompassing a<br />
wildlife and quiet area.<br />
Over the next 18 months there were<br />
more team building afternoons, but<br />
every week the INM Ponders were out<br />
planting, painting, pruning, watering<br />
and redesigning as new ideas came<br />
into their heads. Plants were ‘Googled’<br />
for their medicinal properties. INM staff<br />
donated money, plants and<br />
equipment. A couple of dead trees<br />
around the site were cut down,<br />
shredded then used to make a bark<br />
path. Natural stones were used around<br />
the pond area.<br />
To help encourage wildlife, there is a<br />
wild meadow grass area, a buddleia<br />
plant for the butterflies, an insect house<br />
and a bird box. There was frog spawn in<br />
the pond but we think a heron spotted<br />
by the pond may have dined out on it.<br />
A pair of mallard ducks are regular<br />
visitors, as are the dragonflies. We are<br />
still waiting for a bird to take up<br />
residence in the bird box. The garden is<br />
now a festival of colour.<br />
There are over 25 medicinal plants<br />
including lavender, lemon balm,<br />
evening primrose, feverfew, valerian,<br />
The INM Medicinal Garden and Pond<br />
Area was offcially opened on 12th<br />
May 2015. In at tendance were the<br />
families of some INM staff who have<br />
sadly passed away and had donated<br />
plants in their memory. The<br />
Seconded Medical and Dental<br />
Offcers (SMODOs) had donated<br />
money for a bench in memor y of a<br />
colleague who died in 2014.<br />
The garden would not have been<br />
possible without the generosit y of<br />
INM staff, the SMODOs, the Royal<br />
Navy and Royal Marines Charity<br />
(RNRMC), and a team at HMS Sultan<br />
who provided several plaques. Not to<br />
forget all the hard work done by the<br />
INM Ponders who will continue to<br />
raise monies and maintain the garden<br />
for all INM personnel.<br />
Wendy Lydiatt<br />
INM Ponder<br />
Medicinal garden and pond area © Wendy Lydiatt<br />
Sanctuary 44 • 2015 83