PRESS RELEASE, 14th October 2025
Volunteers from B&Q have stepped in to solve a problem for the Chesterfield Canal Trust.
For many years visitors to Hollingwood Hub have admired the beautiful flower boat. This was donated to the Chesterfield Canal Trust by Staveley Hall Garden Centre eleven years ago. It was however rotting away and in urgent need of replacement.
The Trust appealed several times for a suitable boat, but only plastic or fibreglass vessels were offered. These could not match the standard set by the original which was an ex-Navy boat dating back to the 1940s.
Rod Auton, Secretary of the Trust, takes up the story. “Earlier this year we were alerted to a volunteering website called Neighbourly. We were told that B&Q often offered help via this site, so I put out a plea. A few months later Gemma Johnson from the Chesterfield branch got in touch.”
Gemma visited in early September and agreed with Trust gardeners Sarah Paddison and Jim Bower that B&Q would provide a new boat-shaped flower bed. In the meantime, the Trust gardeners cleared away the old, rotten timbers plus several tons of soil whilst saving the plants for use elsewhere.
In early October, Gemma brought a team of five B&Q staff who had all volunteered to help. They fitted a new boat made out of sleepers that had been cut to size the day before. Next they filled it with the old soil, topped by lots of fresh compost. They finished by planting it up with a colourful array flowers and shrubs. All of this was paid for by B&Q.
The result is absolutely beautiful and was immediately admired by visitors.
Gemma said: “As we were working on the project it was so lovely to see and hear from some of the local community who use and benefit from the space at the Hollingwood Hub. It clearly is a real focal point where people enjoy spending time. It’s been such a privilege to improve this space, and we hope people will continue to enjoy it.”
Rod Auton summed up “We are incredibly grateful to Gemma, her wonderful volunteers and to B&Q. It is really gratifying to work with companies that want to help our charity for the good of the whole community. This is just the latest in a long list of other companies with whom we have worked this year including Sky, Coster, Tesco, Mansfield Building Society and British Gas.”
The B&Q team admire their work.
The original boat.
Earlier this year falling apart.
Being broken up in September by gardeners Cathy Wagstaff and Peter Hawkins.
The B&Q team building the new boat.
The flowers ready to plant.
Gemma watering the flowers.
The finished article.