Engineering firm creates a forest garden for Wigan primary school pupils

Specialist engineering and construction company, J Murphy & Sons has operated from its Golborne site since 1969 and has always been keen to contribute to the locality - whether through the works carried out recently at Edge Green Common, support given for successive Golborne Carnivals or through improvements undertaken at local schools.

The latest of these is a project at St Luke’s CE Primary School in Lowton, where a Murphy team has been on site creating a forest garden for the children.

Work included the creation of raised timber beds for growing fruit and vegetables, a covered seating area as well as a “bug hotel” and pond to encourage wildlife.

Murphy colleagues were joined by the children who helped with the planting - providing an educational opportunity in the importance of biodiversity and sustainability.

Kay Atherton, project manager at Murphy, said: “Our team thoroughly enjoyed working with the community at St Luke’s to create the Forest School.

"To mark Murphy’s 75th anniversary in 2026 we are aiming to engage with 75 schools by 2026 as part of a programme called Murphy Roots which aims to support local community projects, plant trees and help to educate the next generation on climate change and global biodiversity issues.

“The children were all very keen to get involved and were a great help getting stuck in and planting up the fruit and vegetable beds!”

Steve Hardaker, headteacher at St Luke’s, said: “All stakeholders of St Luke’s Church of England Primary School are delighted and overwhelmed by the community support provided by Murphy. We would like to thank them for their innovation, collaboration, integrity and delivery of this outstanding biodiversity project which goes beyond the school and reaches out to all of our community.

“Through this project, we are able to take a huge step to achieving our shared vision to educate the next generation on climate change, lowering carbon living and protecting our local and world environment.”