29 May 2025
Recently, Tim Hewitt, Head Gardener at St Mary's Church, Walthamstow, received a special visit from ITV's Alan Titchmarsh's Gardening Club.
The Churchyard at St Mary's is the largest green space in Walthamstow Village, which is maintained by Head Gardener Tim along with dozens of volunteers from the local community as part of St Mary's 'Burials in Bloom' project.
Through Burials in Bloom, local residents can adopt and tend to a grave, and the churchyard has been transformed into a collection of beautiful and creative flower displays. It has also been a winner of ‘Churchyard of the Year’ in the London in Bloom competition.
Tim and his team's work caught the attention of 'Alan Tichmarsh's Gardening Club', whose presenter, Errol Reuben Fernandes, visited Tim and some of the local volunteer gardeners to find out more.
Tim said:
“I have been a gardener at St Mary’s Churchyard since 2016. Burials in Bloom started as a cry for help! The churchyards were very overgrown, and I figured that any neglected grave which was cared for meant I didn’t have to do it. However, it has become a lot more than that, a way to connect to the local community and people who don’t come to church. It’s a great way of learning to garden while experiencing physical and mental health benefits. We have over 50 people who garden a patch of the churchyards now.
“I also run a volunteer programme through the week to garden and maintain the wider churchyard. We have an engaged and skilled group of gardeners.
"We were invited to do the Titchmarsh programme through Errol Ruben Fernandes, who is a friend, local resident and Head Gardener of The Horniman Museum. Errol presented our piece on the show."
Find out more about St Mary’s Churchyard here.
Watch the feature below or view the full episode of Alan Titchmarsh's Gardening Club on ITV X.
