The planter is designed to enhance the blank area to the left of The Old Bath House. It also gives some emphasis to the original history of the Building and furthermore it's fun!

Wade Shrimpton, a local resident, very kindly offered this bath to us in case we could think of a use for it. We decided it would make an attractive planter which would provide a welcome splash of colour to that area.

Our first moves were to approach MK Council's planning and highways departments to ensure there would be no problems with the proposed siting. The project was also put to The Community Centre and The Living Archive to ensure everyone was happy with this feature. There was a positive response and at the same time we had approached Tesco's who owned the piece of land in question. Tesco's also considered it would make an attractive feature and gave permission for this siting.

We then spent quite some time rust removing and applying anti-rust treatment before painting the bath black and gold to match the new streetlights.

The planter is big enough to take a reasonable quantity of plants including some basic shrub planting. This is supplemented with flowers to provide seasonal colour and cordyline and grasses (including black grass) to provide texture. We have included heliotrope and butterfly lavender for scent. It is very pleasing to see the planter regularly visited by hoverflies and butterflies.

Our thanks to Wade Shrimpton, Tesco's, to Valentine's for moving the Bath, Milton Keynes Council for the black and gold paint, Lakes for the primer and Wolverton & Greenleys Town Council for a small grant to pay for the plinth and installation costs. Maws tiles of Staffordshire have promised to donate traditional black and white tiles for the plinth.

Fire Bucket Hanging Basket

When an old fire bucket was found in a pile of rubbish, this seemed like an ideal opportunity to use it as a hanging basket on the Old LNWR Fire Station. Tesco's the site owners and Hollywood Music, the music shop in the Old Fire Station were supportive of the idea.

The bucket was renovated with several coats of red gloss with black detailing. It is planted with a gazania, dahlia, geum, cordyline and lemon thyme. There's also mystery plant in red/yellow where the label was lost !

After the bucket was installed it was decided that the frontage of the Fire Station could take two more fire buckets. One was found in an architectural salvage yard near Buckingham and a third turned up in another pile of rubbish!

Thanks to Wolverton & Greenleys Town Council for letting us use the services of the Area Caretaker, Allan Evans and his assistant Bernard Dackholme to install the brackets and buckets. Thanks to Philip Ilett for watering duties.