Tower and Town, June 2016

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St Mary's Garden Trust

The Trust has been in existence for over fifty years and is administered by five trustees, appointed by the PCC, with the Rector of St Mary’s always the chairman.

The Trust has investments which give an annual income that is distributed as grants. This is to benefit children up to the age of about eleven and over the past twenty years grants have gone to St Mary’s Infant School, Preshute Primary School, St Peter’s Junior School, Manton Playgroup, St Mary’s Playgroup and occasionally other youth groups such as The Brownies.

Over the last twenty years a total of almost fifty thousand pounds has been distributed.

Why is “Garden” in the Trust’s title?

It is because the Trust originally owned a garden opposite the old St Mary’s school in Herd Street. The school itself only had a very small playground so the garden allowed a safe recreational area for the children. This garden on the west side of Herd Street had previously been the garden of Number One, The Green. Most Marlburians over the age of fifty who went to St Mary’s will have happy memories of the garden (including the author).

Number One, The Green was the home of Herbert Leaf who came to teach at Marlborough College in 1877, retiring in 1907. He was Mayor of Marlborough in 1906 and was a generous benefactor to the College and Town in all sorts of ways. He preferred anonymity with his many donations but his name is remembered in Leaf Close off Blowhorn Street and in Leaf Block at the College. On his death in 1936 his house was acquired by the Borough Council and became the offices of the council and the large garden was given to St Mary’s for the benefit of the school.

In 1974, the new St Mary’s school opened in Van Diemans and the garden was now too far away for it to be of continued benefit to the children. This is why the trustees of the time decided to sell the land at full market value and invest the proceeds so that an income could continue to bring benefits to the children of Marlborough.

It is good to think of the generous gifts of Herbert Leaf still being of benefit to Marlborough’s children.

David Chandler